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LIBRA.  RY 

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THE 


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CONDITION  AND  PROSPECTS 


OF    THE 


PROTESTAIVT    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH. 


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B.  P.  AYDELOTT,  D.  D. 


^» 


Cincinnati: 
WM.  H.  MOORE  &C0; 

NEW    YORK MARK    H.    NEWMAN    &  COj 

THILADELPHIA HERMAN    HOOKER. 

1848. 


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.TO  THE  MINISTERS  AND  MEMB:ER1  " 


OF 


THE  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 


Never  was  there  a  time  since  the  organization  of  ou:r 
church,  that  called  more  loudly  for  serious  reflection,  and 
prompt,  energetic  action,  than  the  present.  The  enemy  has 
come  in  like  a  flood.  y, 

We  have  seen  the  doctrine  of  Justification  by  faith  only, 
and  nearly  every  other  great  principle  of  our  Protestant 
church,  openly  denied  and  opposed.  We  have  seen  leading 
men  among  us  publicly  arraying  themselves  on  the  side  of 
Popish  corruptions,  and  giving  to  them  their  official  sanction. 
Wo  have  seen  our  most  important  institutions  lending  their 
aid  to  diffuse  these  evils  far  and  wide.  We  have  seen  intro- 
duced into  our  ministry  men  professing  their  attachment  to 
Romish  errors,  and  rejecting  the  most  precious  truths  of  the 


^ 


4  PREFACE. 

gospel  of  the  grace  of  God.  All  these,  and  many  similar 
evils  have  we  seen  ;  and  yet  we  have  not  seen  a  single 
instance  of  their  authors  and  abettors  being  called  to  account. 
So  far  from  this,  their  treachery  to  Protestantism  has  been 
their  glory,  and  their  wickedness  against  God  the  very  ground 
of  their  exaltation.  » 

As  the  result  of  all  this,  those  among  us  who  earnestly 
contend  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints  are  loaded  with 
obloquy  and  contempt ;  our  missionary  and  other  benevolent 
societies  become  more  and  more  feeble;  a  painful  and  para- 
lysing mistrust  prevails  through  the  whole  length  and  breadth 
of  our  church;  religion  daily  declines  among  us;  a  check  is 
put  to  our  extension;  and  while  christians  of  other  evangelical 
denominations  look  upon  us  with  deep  sorrow  of  heart,  papists 
glory  in  our  waning  Protestanism,  and  exult  at  their  acces- 
sions from  our  ranks. 

What  a   humiliating,   sinful   spectacle!      And    yet  every 
observing,  thoughtful  man  will  see  that  we  have  sketched  a 
mere  outline  of  the  present  condition  of  our  church,  and  that 
faithfully  to  fill  it  up,  would  but  add  a  deeper  darkness  to 
the  picture. 

Are  we,  then,  to  despair?  By  no  means.  Is  it  not  written  — 
"  When  the  enemy  shall  come  in  like  a  Jiood,  the  spirit  of  the 
Lord  shall  lift  up  a  standard  against  him?"  There  is 
life,  there  is  light,  there  is  piety,  there  is  strength  enough 
among  us,  were  they  only  faithfully  put  forth,  to  work  out 
for  us  even  now,  under  heaven's  blessing,  a  great  deliverance. 


m 


^ 


PREFACE.  5 

Let  us  then  quit  ourselves  like  men,  and  be  strong.  Let  but 
our  evangelical  ministry  consider  "  the  great  treasure  com- 
mitted to  their  charge,  —  that  it  is  their  solemn  duty  to  drive 
away  from  the  church  all  erroneous  and  strange  doctrine 
contrary  to  God's  word;"  let  but  each  one  of  us,  ministers 
and  people,  in  his  several  place  faithfully  lift  up  his  voice  and 
put  forth  his  hand,  and  we  have  no  reason  to  fear  the  result. 
The  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  will  triumph.  Popery  will  be 
exposed  and  cast  out,  and  a  pure  Protestantism  be  established 
throughout  our  Zion. 

It  is  a  great  and  very  injurious  mistake  to  suppose  that  our 
present  evils  have  been  of  sudden  growth.  The  seeds  of  them 
were  long  since  sown,  and  they  have  gradually  taken  Toqf,, 
and  grown  up  '^  while  men  slept,^^  till  the  dreadful  harvest  is 
now  visible  in  all  parts  of  our  church.  It  is  important  to  be 
well  aware  of  this  fact,  in  order  that  we  may  see  the  duty 
and  necessity  of  searching  deeply  into  the  causes  of  our 
troubles,  and  making  a  thorough  reformation  work.  Perad- 
venture  some  of  us  —  even  the  best  friends  of  a  Protestant 
Christianity  —  may  find  that  we  are  endeavoring  to  reconcile 
impossibilities;  that  we  are  cherishing,  or  at  least  are  very 
little  concerned  about,  certain  things  which  will  be  sure  to 
bring  upon  us  future  invasions  of  the  papal  antichrist,  even 
should  we  now  be  able  to  cast  him  out. 

Oh  brethren,  is  it  not  a  time  with  us  for  close,  faithful 
self-searching;  a  looking  down  deep  into  our  foundation;  a 
thorough  scrutiny  of  the  whole  superstructure;  and  a  full, 

I* 


6  PREFACE. 

honest  expose  of  the  results?  "We  must,  in  this  our  day  of 
trial,  rise  above  the  fear  and  the  favor  of  man;  we  must 
resist  every  desire  of  ease;  we  must  quench  every  ambitious 
aspiration  ;  we  must  be  very  faithful  for  Christ  and  his 
gospel. —  or  as  a  church,  we  are  lost,  lost,  —  and  if,  indi- 
vidually any  of  us  are  at  last  saved,  it  will  be  as  it  were  by 
fire. 

Such  being  our  sad  condition,  what  must  we  think  of  those 
who  endeavor  to  cover  up  the  whole  matter,  and  "  cry  peace, 
peace,  when  there  is  no  peace?  "  What  must  we  think  of 
such  men?  Is  it  not  to  be  feared  that  the  character  of  too  many 
of  them  may  be  learned  in  the  parable  of  the  tares  —  "While 
•men  slept  the  enemy  came  and  sowed  tares."  These  professed 
friends  of  the  church  wish  us  to  sleep  on.  "Why,"  say 
they,  "  disturb  the  peace  of  the  church?  There  is  no  reason 
for  apprehension;  all  is  well;  or,  at  least,  will  turn  out  well, 
if  we  only  keep  still."  Thus  do  they,  with  good  words  and 
fair  speeches,  deceive  the  hearts  of  the  simple.  And  when 
this  smooth  course  fails,  and  men  cannot  be  cajoled,  but 
will  lift  up  the  voice  of  honest  alarm;  why  then  they  must 
be  branded  as  disturbers  of  the  church,  and  their  influence 
in  this  way  be  destroyed.  Thus  do  these  men  endeavor  to 
quiet  every  fear,  hinder  all  investigation,  and  suppress  every 
faithful  remonstrance.  What,  then,  must  we  think  of  such 
professed  friends  of  the-  church?  If  it  was  the  evemy  that 
sowed  tares  while  men  slept,  certainly  they  must  be  his 
friends  who  would  prolong  this  fata^  sleep.    The  Lord  awaken 


■#^ 


^*  PREFACE.  7 

US  to  a  sense  of  our  danger  before  it  be  too  late!     Very  many 
of  us,  it  is  to  be  feared,  have  already  slept  the  sleep  of  death. 

In  the  following  pages  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  point 
out  some  of  the  more  prominent  evils  of  our  church,  and 
the  remedy  for  them.  While  the  writer  has  sought  to  do 
this  in  all  kindliness  of  spirit  and  language,  he  trusts  that  he 
has  not  been  wanting  in  plainness  and  fidelity.  Had  he 
consulted  his  own  ease  or  interests  he  would  certainly  have 
never  again  taken  up  his  pen,  however  strongly  solicited.  But 
personal  ease  and  interest  ought  to  be  with  us  a  very  small 
thing,  when  weighed  in  the  balance  against  the  cause  of  Christ 
and  of  never-dying  souls.  He  has  endeavored  to  write  with 
the  judgment  seat  full  in  view. 

The  different  Essays,  as  they  originally  appeared  in  the 
Episcopal  Recorder,  of  Philadelphia,  and  were  copied  into 
other  periodicals,  both  in  this  country  and  in  England,  the 
writer  has  reason  to  believe  were  read  with  serious  attention, 
and  were  not  unproductive  of  beneficial  results.  They  are 
republished  in  their  present  form,  upon  the  suggestion  of 
valued  christian  friends,  with  the  hope  that  they  may  have  a 
still  wider  circulation,  and  contribute,  with  the  blessing  of 
Heaven,  yet  more  largely  to  advance  the  gospel  of  the  grace 
of  God  among  us,  and  thus  bring,  in  rich  abundance,  a  true  4 
peace  to  our  now  troubled  church. 

B.  P.  AYDELOTT.' 
Cincinnati,  Oct.  1,  1847. 


^ 


m 


'^r^^^ 


CONTENTS. 


ADDRESS  TO  MINISTERS  AND  MEMBERS,  &c. 

Dangerous  condition  of  the  Church, — Necessity  of  vigorous 
action, — Startling  facts, — Faithfulness  may  yet  save  us 
from  total  apostacy,  &:.c., — Seeds  of  Romanism  long  since 
sown  among  us, — A  thorough  reformation  called  for, — 
Policy  of  Romanizers  to  cover  over  their  designs  and 
doings,  &oC.  3-7 

INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER. 

Popish  errors  and  practices  rampant, — All  our  benevolent 
operations  embarrassed  and  enfeebled, — Distrust  and  alarm 
universal, — Causes  of  our  evils  must  be  thoroughly  inves- 
tigated. 13-15 

CHAPTER   IT. 

Want  of  carefulness  in  admitting  to  the  ministry, — Literary 
and  theological  requisitions  quite  high,  but  religious  char- 
acter and  spiritual  fitness  for  the  work  little  regarded, — An 
alarming  fact.  16-21 

CHAPTER  III. 

To  preach  the  Gospel,  the  great  work  of  the  ministry, — The 
Gospel  a  simple,  clear,  definite  message, — Its  great  truths, 
— Man's  natural  character  and  condition,  God's  counsels 
of  grace  and  mercy,  man's  obligations,  &c., — The  Gospel 
altogether  peculiar, — Is  it  faithfully  preached  among  us  ? — 
An  interesting  case,  the  testimony  of  a  converted  lady. 

22-29 


% 


m 


10  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


A  most  important  scriptural  principle, — To  spiritual  men 
belong  spiritual  things, —  This  principle  almost  entirely 
overlooked  in  our  organization, — Vestry, —  Diocesan  and 
general  convention, — Hence  we  are  continually  liable  to  be 
flooded  with  error  and  worldliness, — An  infidel  may  sit  in 
our  general  convention, — The  world  and  Popery  fast  friends, 
— Hence  much  of  our  troubles.  30-43 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Lord's  supper, — Exercises  of  the  converted  man  in  view 
of  it, — Confirmation,  qualifications  for  it, — Abuses  of  con- 
firmation and  evils  growing  out  of  these, — A  significant 
case, — The  communion  office, — Repentance,  faith,  holy 
character  essential  to  the  communicant, — Great  unfaith- 
fulness here,  and  the  mischievous  consequences,— Pusey- 
ism  and  Romanism  the  natural  results  of  lax  communion. 

44-54 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  church  of  Christ, — Her  duty,  honor,  position,  &c., — The 
Roman  Anti-christ, — Its  character,  &c., — The  Bible  lost 
sight  of,  universal  corruption  and  despotism, — The  dark 
ages, — The  true  radical  principle  of  Popery, — The  same 
principle  at  the  foundation  of  High  Churchmanship, — 
Bishop  Hobart's  theology,  its  Romish  character  and  ten- 
dencies,—  Rev.   Dr.  ,  —  his   conversion   and   faithful 

preaching, — The  history  of  a  candidate,  his  painful  dis- 
coveries and  anticipations, — These  last  now  mournfully 
realized, — Our  only  remedy.  55-69 

CHAPTER    VII. 

A  cunning  device  of  Satan,  to  fix  men's  minds  on  forms  and 
ceremonies,  and  draw  them  off"  from  truth  and  piety, — 
Have  we  been  thus  deluded  ? — Justification  by  faith,— Let- 
ter of  a  candidate  indicating  a  sad  state  of  things, — An- 
other Carey  ordination, — A  bishop  denying  justification  by 
faith, — Regeneration,  or  a  change  of  heart, — A  faithful 
bishop  assailed, — Looseness  of  discipline, — A  shocking  case 
of  wickedness, — We  must  return  to  Scriptural  discipline 
and  preaching, — This  alone  can  save  us.  70-83 


COiNTENTS.  1  I 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

What  is  idolatry  ? — Idolatry  a  great  besetting  sin  of  human 
nature, — Rome,  baptized  heathenism, — The  idolatry  of  the 
church,  its  power  among  us, — He  is  no  churchman  who 
will  not  bow  down  to  this  idol, — The  idolatry  of  the  Prayer 
Book, — No  work  of  man  perfect, — The  idolatry  of  Episco- 
pacy,— The  miserable  results  of  this  idolatry, — We  must 
be  honest  and  above  the  fear  of  man,  we  must  tell  the  truth 
plainly, — The  times  demand  such  faithfulness  from  us, — 
How  this  idolatry  has  grown  to  such  a  height  among  us, — 
Selfish  men,  and  ambitious  men,  and  easy  men,  all  help  on 
this  idolatry, — Hence,  so  many  small  men  in  our  high  places, 
they  exalt  the  Bishop  and  the  Bishop  exalts  them,—  Manli- 
ness specially  called  for  in  these  days, — The  Apostle  Paul 
an  eminent  example  of  manliness, — our  idolatries  are  driv- 
ing us  rapidly  onward  to  Rome.  84-104 

CHAPTER   IX. 

The  wisdom  and  piety  of  our  Reformers,  they  were  far  from 
supposing  the  Prayer  Book  perfect, — They  made  it  as  good 
as  a  corrupt,  civil  government  and  the  ignorance  of  the 
times  would  let  them, — It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  the  Re- 
formers did  not  themselves  get  rid  of  all  Romish  influences, 
facts  show  that  they  did  not, — We  are  now  troubled  with 
these  remnants  of  popery  left  us  by  the  Reformers, — The 
communion  office  in  the  American  Prayer  Book  changed 
for  the  worse  from  the  English  Book, — The  absolution, 
two-faced, — The  baptismal  office  admits  three  interpreta- 
tions,— Baptismal  regeneration,  ecclesiastical  regeneration, 
spiritual  regeneration, — Its  aspect  and  the  impression  it  is 
calculated  to  make,  are,  to  some  extent,  Popish, — We  must 
reform  this  office  or  bo  continually  liable  to  Popish  out- 
breaks. 105-119 

CHAPTER  X. 

An  opponent  commended, — The  Churchman, — Bishop  Meade 
and  baptism, — High  church  views  of  baptism,  the  churcji, 
&c., — Totally  opposite  to  those  of  evangelical  Christians, — 
Occidentalis, — His  candor  and  manliness, — Two  entirely 
different  gospels  and  kinds  of  religion  among  us, — If  the 
one  is  true,  the  other  must  be  soul-destroying  error, — The 
great  cause  of  our  present  troubles,  a  want  of  candor  and 
manliness  in  evangelical  men.  .  _  120-136 


12  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

The  danger  of  power, — to  be  carefully  guarded, — Are  not  our 
bishopsalmost  totally  irresponsible  ? — Imperfection  of  our 
legislation, — A  case  in  point, — Exemplification  of  grievous 
oppression, — No  adequate  remedy  for  episcopal  oppression — 
A  bishop,  again  and  again,  under  aggravating  circumstances, 
and  with  nwre  than  impunity,  grossly  assails  the  character  of 
others  from  the  press, — A  bishop  guilty  of  lewd  conduct 
could  not  be  called  to  account, — Episcopal  veto  upon  the 
diocesan  convention, — Hints  at  the  entire  exclusion  of  the 
laity  from  our  conventions, — Secret  sessions  of  the  House 
of  Bishops  — A  Judge's  opinion  of  this, — It  is  utterly  op- 
posed to  all  our  civil  institutions, — It  must  result  in  despot- 
ism,— Our  present  evils  naturally  grow  out  of  episcopal 
irresponsibility.  137-151 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Necessity  of  deep  earnestness, — What  ought  we  to  do  ? — 
Preach  the  gospel, — False  gospels, — Reformers  to  be  care- 
fully studied, — Prayer,  special,  fervent  prayer  needed, — 
The  press, — Its  power  for  evil, — The  duty  of  ministers  and 
intelligent  laymen  here, — Wilberforce's  Practical  View, — 
Our  religious  periodical  press, — The  wickedness  and  mis- 
chief of  a  selfish,  unfaithful  editor, — An  error  to  be  correct- 
ed,— The  inconsistency  between  high  church  views  and 
evangelical  principles, — One  or  the  other  soon  given  up, — 
Sad  examples, — Bishop  Hobart's  theology  leads  to  Popery, 
— Bishop  Wilson's  (of  India)  noble  testimony  against  high 
churchism  and  Puseyism, — Our  evils  ought  to  be  brought 
up  at  every  convention, — The  policy  of  the  enemy  to  pre- 
vent discussion,-^If  the  friends  of  the  gospel  are  silent,  all 
is  lost, — The  authors  of  Popish  outrages  to  be  called  to  ac- 
count — A  general  correspondence  between  the  friends  of 
the  gospel, — Consultation,  &c., — The  necessity  of  a  revised 
book  of  common  prayer, — The  need  of  eminent  pel"sonal 
piety, — A  general  revival  of  religion  is  our  great  want, — 
This  would  speedily  destroy  Puseyism,  &c., — Division  per- 
haps necessary, — False  views  of  unity, — A  Popish  idol, — 
The  prospect  bright  for  the  friends  of  the  truth,  if  only 
candid,  manly,  faithful, — Our  present  deplorable  evils  long 
foreseen  and  predicted.  152-176 


•Wr 


CONDITION  AND  PROSPECTS 


OF  THE 


PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH. 


INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER. 

The  heart  of  every  good  man  iii  our  Zion 
trembles  for  the  Ark  of  the  Lord.  Troublous 
times  have  come  upou  us.  Popish  errors,  both 
doctrinal  and  practical,  supposed  to  be  long  since 
dead,  never  to  be  revived  again,  have  become 
rampant,  while  truth  languishes  in  our  midst, 
and  the  Spirit  of  God  withholds  his  refreshing 
influences.  All  complain  of  the  little  fruits  of 
their  preaching ;  a  deadness  seems  to  have  come 
over  the  whole  Church ;  while  here  and  there  a 
voice  is  heard  to  protest  against  the  fatal  errors, 
openly  but  most  often  covertly  attempted  to  be 
spread  through  our  borders.  The  enemy  shows 
himself  in  the  pulpit,  in  the  Sunday-school,  in 


14        CONDITION  AND  PROSPECTS  &C. 

the  periodical  press.  Hence  the  universal  alarm 
and  distrust,  and  in  very  many  cases,  despair  of 
better  things. 

Who  does  not  see  that  such  a  state  of  things 
must  embarrass  our  missionary  and  all  other  be- 
nevolent operations,  prevent  the  extension  of  our 
church,  which  has  grown  so  much  till  recently, 
and  ere  long  cause  too  many  of  our  best  members 
to  quit  us  in  despondency.  These  evils  have 
already  been  painfully  manifested,  and  they  will 
soon,  it  is  to  be  feared,  so  thicken  about  us  that 
even  the  most  blind  and  unconcerned  cannot  re- 
main insensible  to  them. 

What  has  produced  this  state  of  things? 
Whence  have  these  calamities  come  upon  us  ? 
But  a  short  time  ago  none  made  such  strong 
claims  to  true  Protestant  character  as  we  ;  none 
made  more  encouraging  advances  in  enlightened 
piety,  and  none  more  largely  extended  their 
borders.  But  what  a  disastrous  change  has  come 
over  us ! 

Is  there  no  hope  for  us  ?  Must  we  ever  sit  by 
the  rivers  of  Babylon?  And  never  again  take 
our  harps  from  the  willows?  There  is  hope, 
mercy  is  not  clean  gone  for  ever  !  Let  us  only 
be  faithful  to  ourselves,  and  we  shall  find  a  very 
present  help  in  this  our  time  of  need. 


GO    TO    THE    ROOT    OF    THE    EVIL.  15 

But  what  to  is  be  done?  Yes,  what  is  to 
be  done?  Let  every  friend  of  Christ  and  his 
Church  among  us,  think  deeply  upon  this  ques- 
tion, and  pray  much  in  view  of  our  evils,  and  he 
will  assuredly  get  eyes  to  see,  a  heart  to  feel,  and 
a  spirit  strong  to  do — what  is  to  be  done. 

When  the  faithful  physician  has  a  case  com- 
mitted to  him,  he  first  endeavors  to  find  out  the 
cause  of  the  disease,  with  the  strongest  confidence 
that  if  he  can  get  light  here  he  can  scarcely  fail 
of  bringing  relief  to  his  patient.  This  is  wise, 
all  experience  confirms  it.  Let  us  then  imitate 
it.  Is  the  whole  head  sick  ?  and  the  whole  heart 
faint  ?  And  is  there  not  a  cause  ?  And  what 
hope  can  we  have  of  a  restoration  to  spiritual 
health  till  this  cause  be  thoroughly  searched  out 
and  faithfully  exposed  ? 


# 


16  CONDITIONS*   AND    PEOSPECTS    &C. 

CHAPTER  11. 

In  a  former  number  the  writer  strove  to  turn 
the  attention  of  his  readers  to  the  importance  of 
faithfully  examining  into  the  causes  of  the  pre- 
sent deplorable  state  of  our  Church.  This  he  did 
with  the  deep  conviction  that  unless  these  causes 
were  thoroughly  understood  we  could  have  no 
reasonable  hope  of  deliverance.  He  now  pro- 
poses briefly  to  point  out  some  of  these  causes. 

But  before  proceeding  to  this  task,  let  him  dis- 
claim all  intention  to  speak  reproachfully,  or  in 
the  spirit  of  fault-finding.  He  is  too  sensible  of 
his  own  defects  and  unfaithfulness,  to  dare  do  this. 
And  the  occasion  calls  rather  for  sorrow  than 
anger. 

He  would  also  ask  his  readers  not  to  judsfe  of 
his  opinion  of  the  different  topics  by  the  order  in 
which  they  are  presented.  He  must  take  up 
each  one  as  his  circumstances  admit. 

And,  lastly,  he  would  have  no  one  suppose 
that  there  are  no  other  causes,  or^j|iat  the  writer 
sees  none,  besides  those  brought  forward  in  these 
short  essays.  Doubtless  many  more  will  occur  to 
other  and  more  experienced  minds :  and  should 


rXCOXVERTED    MIXISTERS.  17 

his  imperfect  attempts  be  the  means  of  calling  out 
such  to  take  a  part  in  this  painful  but  necessary- 
work,  he  will  think,  should  he  see  no  other  fruit, 
that  his  labor  has  not  been  in  vain. 

Let  our  first  inquiry  then  be — 

Has  there  been  sufficient  carefvlness  among  us  in 
admitting  candidates  to  the  ministry? 

It  is  not  in  respect  to  literary,  or  theological 
qualifications  this  inquiry  is  made.  As  it  resfards 
these  there  are  few  denominations  whose  standard, 
is  so  high  as  ours,  and  only  one  or  two  who,  per- 
haps, are  somewhat  in  advance  of  us.  Neither  is 
it  in  respect  to  merely  moral  character,  we  ask 
the  question.  Here  also,  our  provision  is,  we  be- 
lieve, sufficiently  ample. 

Neither  is  it  concerning  the  office  of  ordination 
the  inquiry  is  suggested.  That  is  full  and  scrip- 
tural, and  he  who  sincerely  and  with  an  enlight- 
ened mind  assents  to  the  demands  which  it  makes 
upon  him  at  the  solemn  moment  of  presenting 
himself  before  God  and  his  people,  to  be  invested 
with  the  ministerial  commission — such  a  can- 
didate cannot  but  be  properly  qualified  for  the 
holy  office.  Not  one  of  these  things,  then,  im- 
portant as  they  are,  have  we  now  in  view.  It  is 
concerning  another  matter,  and  a  matter  which  if 
neglected  or  only  slightly  regarded,  will  render  all 
2* 


18  CONDITION   AND   PROSPECTS   &C. 

the  rest,  however  carefully  attended  to,  of  no  avail. 
Our  question  has  reference  to  the  sjjritnal  cha- 
racter and  call  of  the  candidate.  Have  v/e  been 
sufficiently  careful  to  ascertain,  so  far  as  man  in 
the  light  of  God's  word  can  judge,  whether  those 
who  apply  to  be  admitted  to  the  ministry  are  really 
themselves  regenerated  men,  and  called  by  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  preach  the  Gospel  ?  Do  we  faith- 
fully examine  them  whether  they  give  scriptural 
evidence  of  a  work  of  grace  in  the  heart,  and 
v/hether  they  have  those  views  and  feelings  in 
respect  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  which  the 
spirit  of  God  will  certainly  impart  to  all,  whom 
He  calls  to  so  high  and  holy  an  embassy?  The 
one  grand  object  of  the  Gospel  ministry  is  to  per- 
suade men  to  be  Christians.  And  is  it  not  a  great 
thing  to  be  a  Christian  ? — to  be  born  again  ? — to 
be  turned  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the 
power  of  Satan  unto  God  ?  "  If  any  man  be  in 
Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature ;  old  things  are 
passed  away,  behold  all  things  are  become  new." 
But  of  all  this  work  of  grace  the  unconverted  man 
knows  nothing,  as  he  ought  to  know  it ;  he  is  an 
utter  stranger,  experimentally,  to  this  spiritual, 
glorious  transformation,  without  which  none  is 
fitted  for,  none  can  enter,  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Surel}^,  then,  he  who  is  admitted  to  the  Christian 


UXCOXVEETED    MI]S"ISTERS?  19 

ministry  ought  himself  to  be  a  Christian — a  truly 
converted  man.  Without  this,  all  his  literature, 
all  his  theology,  will  be  but  '-as  sounding  brass,  or 
a  tinkling  cymbal." 

How  carefully  then  ought  those  concerned  in 
admitting  men  to  the  ministry — how  carefully 
ought  they  to  examine,  not  merely  into  the  ability 
and  learning,  and  morals  of  the  candidate,  but, 
above  all  and  before  all  things,  into  his  spiritual 
character  and  meetness  for  the  work.  What  folly 
— to  say  nothing  of  the  sin  and  danger — what 
folly  to  send  a  man  forth  to  preach  the  gospel,  who 
never  yet  experienced  himself  its  transforming 
power  in  his  own  heart !  What  folly  to  expect  one 
to  feel  for  the  souls  of  others  who  never  yet  real- 
ized the  worth  and  the  ruin  of  his  own  soul ; — to 
expect  him  to  "know  nothing  among  men,  but 
Christ  and  him  crucified,"  in  whose  own  heart 
Christ  has  never  yet  been  revealed  as  "precious — 
able  and  willing  to  save  unto  the  uttermost  all 
who  come  unto  God  by  him  !" 

Are  these  things  so?  Are  these  things  so? 
Every  faithful  minister,  every  truly  pious  man, 
knows  that  they  are  ; — he  knows  them  by  a  heart 
felt  experience  to  be  inexpressibly  important, 
solemn  realities. 

Have  we  then  been  sufficiently  careful  in  this 


20  COXDITION   AlVD    PROSPECTS    &C. 

matter?  Would  that  we  could  sav,  we  had  !  But 
multitudes  of  facts  at  this  moment  crowd  upon 
the  mind  of  the  writer,  all  bearing  alarming  testi- 
mony to  past  unfaithfulness.  But  one  will  he  here 
state.  He  has  been  somewhat  conversant  with 
examinations  for  the  ministry  in  various  parts  of 
our  church  ;  and  never,  except  on  a  single  occa- 
sion, has  he  known  a  question  put  to  a  candidate 
the  object  of  which  was  to  ascertain  whether  he 
had  proper  views  of  the  sacred  office  and  of  a 
call  to  it,  or  had"  been  himself  the  subject  of  that 
spiritual,  holy  change  which  is  essential  to  Chris- 
tian character. 

The  writer  cannot  but  fear,  therefore,  that  there 
has  not  been  sufficient  carefulness  in  this  matter. 
He  cannot  but  fear  that  many  unconverted  men 
— men  who  know  nothing  spiritually  of  the  truth 
and  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  have  been  admitted 
to  the  ministry  of  our  Church. 

If  this  be  indeed  our  sad  case,  who  does  not  see 
what  a  flood-gate  of  evils  has  thus  been  opened  1 
It  is  a  divine  maxim — '■^Like  priest  like  people ^'^ 
Can  we  be  surprised  then  at  the  rapid  spread  of 
Puseyism  and  other  Popish  developments  through- 
out our  borders  ?  Why  Romanism  in  all  its  forms 
is  just  the  religion  of  the  natural  man:  an  unre- 


THE   GREAT   WORK   OF  THE   MI^"ISTRY.  21 

generate  heart  is  the  very  hot-bed  in  which  it  will 
most  thrive. 

Does  it  not  behoove  us  all  seriously  to  ponder 
this  matter?  It  may  be,  as  the  writer  fears,  that 
we  have  not  been  sufficiently  careful  here  in  times 
past.  If  we  have  not,  certainly  we  may  see  in 
this  oversight  one  main  cause  of  the  existence 
and  growth  of  our  present  troubles.  Let  each 
minister  then  "commune  with  his  own  heart;" 
and  let  the  "  spirit  of  the  people  make  diligent 
search."  Let  all  remember  the  injunction  of  the 
Apostle,  '*  Lay  hands  suddenly  on  no  man."  and 
resolve  to  do  nothing  which  will  promote  the  in- 
troduction of  any  man  into  the  ministry,  unless 
we  are  persuaded  that  he  feels  the  necessity  of  a 
change  of  heart,  and  has  passed  through  such  ex- 
ercises of  mind,  as  one  tausfht  and  called  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  might  be  expected  to  have.  Surely, 
'•  God  hath  not  forgotten  to  be  gracious."  He 
w^ill  "guide  us  by  his  counsel"  if  we  faithfully 
seek  him. 


22  CONDITION   AND   PROSPECTS    &C. 


CHAPTER  III. 

It  will  not  be  denied  by  any  consistent  protest- 
ant  that  to  preach  the  Gospel  is  the  great  work 
of  the  Cliristian  Ministry.  "  Christ  sent  me  not 
to  baptize,  but  to  preach  the  Gospel."  Neither 
will  it  be  denied  that  he  whom  Christ  really  sends, 
will  fulfil  his  mission, — he  will  preach — not 
"  another  gospel"  but — ^^tlie  Gospel."  He  will 
not  come  as  the  advocate  of  any  scheme  of  man's 
devising,  however  true  and  good  in  its  place ;  or 
as  the  promulger  of  any  of  the  thousand  and  one 
forms  of  error  which  Satan  so  successfully  uses 
to  beguile  and  ruin  unstable  souls  ;  neither  will 
he  be  satisfied  with  a  vagne,  indefinite  statement 
of  the  gospel,  or  rather  of  something  which,  for 
all  that  appears,  is  not  positively  at  variance  with 
the  gospel ;  but  he  will  endeavor,  with  "  simplici- 
ty and  godly  sincerity,"  to  declare  unto  men  that 
peculiarly  definite  message  emphatically  denomi- 
nated by  an  inspired  Apostle — "  The  gospel  of  the 
grace  of  God." 

To  preach  the  gospel  is,  then,  the  great  work 
of  the  Christian  Ministry  ;  and  it  is  only  in  doing 
this  with  plainness  and  fidelity  they  have  any 


GREAT    WORK   OF   THE   MINISTRY.  23 

scriptural  warrant  to  expect  the  blessing  of  heaven 
upon  themselves  and  the  souls  of  their  hearers. 
"Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth  ;  thy  word  is 
truth,"  this  is  a  part  of  the  Saviour's  last  inter- 
cessory prayer  on  earth.  God  no  where  promises 
to  bless  error ;  but  his  word  is  full  of  encourage- 
ment to  believe  that  wherever  the  truth  is  faith- 
fully dispensed,  it  will  prove  '•  the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation." 

And  is  it  only  through  belief  of  the  truth  that 
men  can  be  saved  ?  The  truth  must  therefore 
be  worth  to  each  one  as  much  as  his  soul  is  worth. 
The  latter  will  always  be  the  exact  measure  of 
the  preciousness  of  the  former.  Hence  the  solemn 
admonition  of  the  wise  man,  "Buy  the  truth," 
(give  any  price  for  it)  "  and  sell  it  not,"  (take  no- 
thing in  exchange  for  it,  hold  fast  to  it.) 

As  then  a  minister  values  his  own  soul  and 
the  souls  of  his  hearers,  it  becomes  him  to  preach 
"the  gospel,"  just  because  the  gospel  is  "  The 
truth,'^ — the  divinely  appointed  instrument  of 
sanctifying  and  saving  men. 

What  an  awful  moment  was  that  in  the  career 
of  the  Roman  governor  when,  looking  down  upon 
the  then  despised,  but  now  glorified  "  messenger 
of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,"  he  put  the  question  to  him 
—"What   is   truth?"    Would   that   Pilate    had 


24  CONDITION  AND   PROSPECTS    &C. 

evinced  any  feeling  befitting  the  solemnity  of  the 
occasion  !  Would  that  he  had  not  so  abruptly 
turned  away,  and  thus  perhaps  for  ever  lost,  the 
opportunity  of  knowing  the  things  which  be- 
longed to  his  peace ! 

We  also  ask,  ''what  is  truth?"  And  whilst 
consulting  only  "  the  oracles  of  God,"  we  would 
humbly  pray  "  the  God  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Father  of  glory,  to  give  unto  us  the  spirit  of 
wisdom  and  revelation,  in  the  knowledge  of  him : 
the  eyes  of  our  understanding  being  enlightened, 
that  we  may  know  what  is  the  hope  of  his  calling, 
and  what  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  his  inheritance 
in  the  saints,  and  what  is  the  exceeding  greatness 
of  his  power  to  usward  who  believe  according  to 
the  working  of  his  mighty  power." 

What  then  is  timth  ?  The  natural  character 
and  condition  of  man, — God's  counsels  of  grace, 
and  mercy  towards  him, — and  his  obligations  in 
relation  thereto  ; — these  are  the  unspeakbly  im- 
portant subjects  of  the  gospel.  Now  the  tncth  is 
just  what  God  tells  us  concerniug  these  things ;  and, 
blessed  be  his  name,  it  is  written  as  with  a  sun- 
beam upon  the  pages  of  the  Bible.  But  few 
testimonies,  therefore,  are  required  to  establish  it. 

I.    In  respect  to  the  first  point — man's  natural 
character  and  condition, — hear  God's  own  testi- 


WHAT  IS  TRUTH  ?  25 

mony — "God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man 
was  great  in  the  earth,  and  that  every  imagination 
of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  was  only  evil  con- 
tinually,— they  are  all  gone  out  of  the  wslj,  there 
is  none  that  doeth  good,  no,  not  one.  Cursed  is 
every  one  that  continueth  not  in  all  things  which 
are  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them, — 
and,  the  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die." 

II.  In  respect  to  the  second  point — God's  coun- 
sels of  grace  and  mercy  to  man — "thus  saith  the 
Lord, — God  sent  forth  his  Son,  made  of  a 
woman,  made  under  the  law,  to  redeem  them  that 
were  under  the  law.  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law 
for  righteousness  to  every  one  that  believeth, — a 
man  is  not  justified  by  the  works  of  the  law,  but 
by  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ, — being  justified  free- 
ly by  his  grace,  through  the  redemption  that  is 
in  Christ  Jesus.  Therefore,  being  justified  by 
faith,  we  have  peace  with  God,  through  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  also  we  have  access  by 
faith  into  this  grace  wherein  we  stand,  and  re- 
joice in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God.  Except  a  man 
be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 
And  once  more,  "If  any  man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a 
new  creature:  old  things  are  passed  away  ;  behold 
all  things  are  become  new." 

III.  But  what,  lastly,  are  man's  obligations  in 
3 


26  CONDITION   AND   PKOSPECTS    &C. 

view  of  this  amazing  grace  and  mercy?  This  is 
our  third  inqnir^^  "Jesus  preached — repent  ye, 
and  believe  the  gospel.  God  commandeth  all 
men  everywhere  to  repent.  Believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved.  Put  oif 
the  old  man  which  is  corrupt, — put  on  the  new 
man,  which  after  God  is  created  in  righteousness 
and  true  holiness."  And  to  close  our  examination : 
"  As  he  who  hath  called  you  is  holy,  so  be  ye 
holy  in  all  manner  of  conversation." 

The  doctrines  here  so  explicitly  and  fully  set 
forth  are — man's  apostacy  from  God  and  utter 
ruin  through  sin,  redemption  by  the  obedience 
unto  death  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  ap- 
plication of  this  in  God's  justification  of  the  peni- 
tent sinner  by  faith  only  on  the  sole  ground  of  the 
Saviour's  merits  or  righteousness,  and  in  his 
regeneration  or  change  of  heart  by  the  sanctify- 
ing influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  and  lastly,  that 
every  truly  penitent  believer,  all  who  are  thus 
justified  and  sanctified  will,  through  grace,  walk 
in  the  way  of  holy  obedience,  ''  looking  for  the 
mercy  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  unto  eternal 
life." 

This,  then,  is  ^Hhe  truth" — ^Hhe  gospel."  And 
does  it  not  lay  the  axe  at  the  root  of  all  man's 
pride,  and  teach  him  to  ascribe  the  whole  glory 


THE  FALL;  REDEMPTION,  EEGEXERATIOX.  27 

of  his  salvation  to  the  love  of  God,  throuo:h  Jesns 
Christ?  "You  hath  he  quickened  who  were 
dead  in.  trespasses  and  sins.  For  by  grace  are 
ye  saved,  through  faith ;  and  that  not  of  your- 
selves :  it  is  the  gift  of  God :  not  of  works,  lest  any 
man  should  boast :  for  we  are  his  workmanship, 
created  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works,  which 
God  hath  before-ordained  that  we  should  walk  in 
them." 

How  very  plain  and  simple  a  thing  the  gospel 
is  !  How  few,  grand,  and  peculiar  are  its  doc- 
trines !  It  stands  out  clearly  and  perfectly  distinct 
from  all  false-  religions.  It  is  not  idolatry,  it  is 
not  Romanism,  it  is  not  man's  morality ;  neither 
is  it  any  of  those  vague,  indefinite,  misty  systems 
of  religion  with  which  so  many  nominal  Chris- 
tians have  unhappily  deluded  themselves, — sys- 
tems however  widely  differing  from  each  other, 
yet  all  agreeing  in  their  acceptableness  to  the 
unhumblcd  heart  of  man. 

The  writer  would  now  ask  with  a  deep  and 
solemn  feeling  of  the  importance  of  the  question, 
and  in  the  spirit,  he  humbly  trusts,  of  a  true 
charity, — is  ^^The  gospel"  always  faithfully 
preached  in  our  pulpits?  There  can  be  no  diffi- 
culty in  this  question  to  any  really  honest  mind. 
The  gospel  is  so  plain  that  '•  the  wayfaring  man. 


28  CONDITION   AND   PROSPECTS    &C. 

though  a  foolj  need  not  err  therein."  Let  each 
member,  then,  of  our  troubled  Church  put  his  hand 
on  his  heart,  and  say,  as  in  the  presence  of  Al- 
mighty God,  whether  the  gospel,  as  presented  in  ^ 
the  Scriptural  Lessons  aud  breathed  in  the  Litur- 
gy, is  set  forth  in  the  sermons  he  usually  hears, 
or  whether  the  pulpit  and  the  reading  desk  are 
not  too  often  sadly  at  variance.  The  writer  has 
vividly  in  his  mind  at  this  moment  the  recollec- 
tions of  a  noble-minded  woman,  well  educated 
and  of  high  rank.  She  had  been  baptized  in  our 
Church  in  her  infancy,  in  youth  confirmed,  and 
then  admitted  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  .  Afterwards, 
in  another  part  of  the  Church,  it  pleased  God  to 
open  her  eyes  to  her  unconverted  state  and  the 
perilous  delusion  in  which  she  had  so  long  lived. 
Upon  looking  back  upon  the  unfaithful  preach- 
ing which  had  so  nearly  ruined  her  soul,  she  ex- 
claimed with  deep  emotion  to  her  then  Rector, — 
^'  O,  sir,  it  was  neither  Law  7ior  Gospel !"  jFor  one 
thus  mercifully  awakened,  alas,  what  multitudes 
sleep  on  insensible  to  their  sin  and  danger  ! 

"  It  was  neither  Law  nor  Gospel  P^  How  em- 
phatically descriptive!  And  is  such  indeed  the 
character  of  much  of  our  preaching  ?  If  it  be,  it 
will  go  far  to  account  for  the  troubles  that  have 
come  upon  us.     Why  the  pulpit  is  the  very  heart 


A  STRIKI^JG  CASE,  BUT  NOT  UNCOMMON.  29 

of  the  Christian  Church,  and  if  it  be  paralysed, 
what  wonder  that  the  members  sicken  and  die  ! 
The  Ministry  are  the  appointed  sentinels  of  the 
Lord's  host,  and  if  the  spirit  of  slumber  have  come 
over  them,  the  enemy  will  certainly  steal  into  the 
camp!  And  is  he  not  already  among  us?  Has  he 
not  gotten  even  into  our  high  places?  And  is  he 
not  spreading  himself  far  and  wide  among  us, 
doing  his  work  of  darkness  and  destruction? 

We  are  all  deeply,  vitally  interested  here.  It 
is  therefore  our  duty  and  our  safty  to  look  faith- 
fully into  this  matter.  Let  each  minister,  then, 
''  take  heed  to  himself  and  to  his  doctrine."  And 
let  the  people,  like  the  noble  Bereans,  not  only 
"  receive  the  word  with  all  readiness  of  mind," 
but  also  "search  the  Scriptures  daily  whether 
those  things  are  so;"  that  is,  let  them  "  take  heed" 
not  only  "  how  they  hear/'  but  '•  what  they  hear." 

Where  error  prevails  to  any  considerable  ex- 
tent in  a  church,  it  is  certain  that  the  pulpit  has 
not  been  faithful.  Troubles,  such  as  ours,  cannot 
come  upon  a  people,  and  the  Ministry  be  entirely 
without  blame. 

3         ^ 


im 


o 


0  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

"  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see 
the  Kingdom  of  God.  If  any  man  have  not  the 
Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  His.  The  natu- 
ral man  leceiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of 
God ;  for  they  are  foohshness  unto  him :  neither 
can  he  know  them,  beca'use  they  are  spiritually 
discerned.  But  he  that  is  spiritual  judgeth  all 
things,  yet  he  himself  is  judged  of  no  man.  The 
Kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink ;  but 
righteousness  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost." 

What  do  these  and  many  similar  passages  of 
Scripture  teach  ?  Certainly  it  must  be  important 
to  understand  them.  They  are  a  part  of  God's 
word.  They  concern  Christian  character,  the 
Christian  Church,  and  the  things  of  Christ  gene- 
rally. What  then  do  they  teach  ?  Let  us  seek, 
so  far  as  our  present  purpose  is  concerned,  to 
know  their  import  clearly  and  exactly,  that  we 
may  faithfully  obey  them.  In  doing  this  we 
consult  our  own  highest  interest  and  that  of  the 
Church.    To  neglect,  or  but  slightly  regard  these 


ORGANIC    DEFECTS VESTRIES.  31 

divine  testimonies  must  be  wrong;  and  such 
wrong  as  will  certainly  be  followed  by  fearful 
consequences  to  ourselves  and  others. 

We  suppose  that  these  and  such  like  passages 
of  God's  word  plainly  teach  that  a  spiritual,  holy 
change  must  take  place  in  the  character  of  men 
before  they  can  be  truly  said  to  be  subjects  of 
Christ's  Spiritual  Kingdom,  or  members  "of  his 
holy  catholic  Church,  and  that  only  such  have  a 
spiritual  knowledge  of  this  Kingdom,  or  can  ex- 
ercise a  fight  judgment  concerning  its  affairs. 
How  much  more  instruction  these  verses  may 
contain,  we  need  not  now  inquire.  What  we 
have  deduced  from  them,  we  doubt  not,  will  be 
assented  to  by  every  intelligent,  serious  reader  of 
the  Bible. 

Now  as  the  chief  object  of  the  visible  Church 
is  to  promote  Christ's  Spiritual  Kingdom,  so,  if 
we  have  rightly  interpreted  the  foregoing  Scrip- 
tures, we  are  authorized  to  say  that  they  who 
undertake  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  Church, 
ought  themselves  to  have  a  right  apprehension  of 
the  spiritual  nature  of  that  Kingdom  and  its  con- 
cerns. To  this  great  practical  principle  will  not 
every  pious  man  at  once  assent  ?  Indeed,  we  sup- 
pose that  no  one,  who  professes  a  respect  for  God's 
word,  and  regards  his  own  character  for  candor 


32  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS   &C. 

and  consistency,  would  be  willing,  directly  and  in 
words,  to  deny  it.  The  principle  here  presented 
as  Scriptural,  is  simply  this, — to  spiritual  men 
belong  spiritual  things. 

Now  have  we,  as  a  Church,  kept  this  plain 
Bible  principle  ever  in  view,  and  been  duly  care- 
ful to  carry  it  out  in  all  our  arrangements  ?  Or 
have  we  too  often  overlooked  it,  and  by  this  neg- 
lect laid  ourselves  open  to  many  and  sore  evils  ? 
There  is  here  required  both  in  the  writer  and  his 
readers,  not  only  much  of  charity  and  candor,  but 
that  unflinching  fidelity  to  Christ  which  can  look 
facts  right  in  the  face,  honestly  interrogate  them, 
and  simply  report  results.  Let  us  endeavor  thus 
to  scrutinize  some  of  our  ecclesiastical  arrange- 
ments.    And  first — 

I.  How  it  is  with  our  Vestries  ?  These  are  not, 
as  many  unthinking,  or  ill  informed  persons  sup- 
pose, merely  stewards  of  the  temporal  affairs  of 
the  Church.  They  have  many  other  and  very 
grave  duties  to  perform.  In  almost  every  parish 
they  choose  the  minister,  and,  of  course,  must 
judge  of  his  character  and  preaching,  whether 
these  are  suited  to  the  spiritual  edification  and 
oversight  of  the  church.  They  generally  elect 
delegates  to  represent  their  congregation  in  the 
Diocesan  Convention.     To  them,  as  an  organized 


DEFECTS    OF    VESTRIES.  33 

body,  it  ordinarily  belongs  to  take  one  of  the  first 
steps  towards  the  admission  of  a  candidate  to  the 
holy  office.  Without  their  certificate  to  his  piety, 
he  cannot  be  received.  In  some  dioceses  they  are 
required,  also,  to  judge  of  the  conduct  of  mem- 
bers of  their  parish  ;  and  in  all  cases  it  would  be 
generally  and  justly  expected  of  them,  should 
the  pastor  appear  unworthy  on  account  of  heresy, 
immorality,  or  unministerial  conduct,  to  present 
him  for  trial,  that  in  case  he  be  proved  guilty,  the 
congregation  may  be  delivered  from  so  great  an 
evil.  And,  to  say  no  more, — their  office  must 
ever  make  them  prominent  before  the  people, 
and  give  to  their  character  and  example  much 
influence  in  the  Church  and  in  the  world  about  it. 
Here  then,  are  very  important  duties,  and  with- 
out a  faithful  attention  to  them  it  is  impossible 
for  the  parish  to  flourish.  They  are,  nearly  every 
one  of  them,  more  or  less  spiritual  in  their  nature, 
and  demand  spiritual  qualifications  for  their  due 
discharge.  If  not  performed  aright,  how  must 
the  spiritual  interests  of  the  parish,  and  the  Church 
generally  suflfer  !  If  a  body  of  pious  vestrymen 
is  a  rich  blessing  to  any  congregation,  and  cer- 
tainly none  will  deny  this,  how  dreadful  a  curse 
must  an  irreligious  vestry  be  !  They  will  hang 
as  a  dead  weight  upon  the  feet  of  a  faithful  min- 


?4  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

ister.  They  will  neutralize  nearly  all  his  in- 
fluence. Hence,  for  the  most  part,  the  cause  of 
Christ  will  languish  in  a  parish  so  situated ;  or 
if,  through  God's  special  mercy,  it  be  revived,  it 
will  be  sure  to  reform  or  sweep  away  such  a 
vestry.  The  latter  we  have  known  it,  in  some 
cases,  silently  but  efficiently  to  do. 

Now,  are  we  careful  to  provide  that  none  but 
pious  men  should  be  chosen  to  so  important  an 
office  ? — men  of  spiritual  character,  spiritual  dis- 
cernment, spiritual  judgment  ?  At  least,  do  we 
provide  that  only  professors  of  religion  should  be 
vestrymen?  Scarcely  ever  is  this  done.  The 
writer  knows  of  not  a  single  diocese  in  which,  if 
his  recollections  are  correct,  the  vestry  must  be 
chosen  from  among  the  communicants  of  the 
Church. 

The  evils  which  have  grown  out  of  this  un- 
happy neglect,  it  would  not  be  possible  in  our 
limited  articles  to  enumerate,  much  less  fully  to 
lay  open.  What  faithful  pastor,  what  pious  mem- 
ber of  our  Church,  has  not  mourned  over  them  ? 
Let  any  serious  man  read  the  certificate  required 
of  a  vestry  before  a  candidate  can  be  admitted  to 
the  office  either  of  Deacon  or  Presbyter — how 
weighty  and  solemn  the  things  there  asserted ! 
Surely  it  demands  no  small  share  of  spiritual 


DIOCESAN    CONVENTIONS.  35 


discernment  and  spiritual  judgment  to  decide 
wisely  and  safely  in  such  a  case.  How  dreadful 
an  injury  must  carelessness  or  ignorance  here 
bring  upon  the  Church !  And  yet,  alas,  how 
often  does  this  important  instrument  proceed 
from  a  body  of  men,  very  few,  if  any,  of  whom 
give  the  least  scriptural  evidence  of  piety,  and  the 
most  of  whom  make  not  even  a  profession  of  re- 
ligion! Would  that  we  could  add  that  this  was 
the  worst  aspect  of  the  case  !  But  surely  enough 
has  been  said,  to  show  the  need  of  reform  here, 
if  we  would  get  rid  of  our  present  troubles,  and 
prevent  their  recurrence  in  future. 

IT.  And  what  is  the  Constitutional  safeguard 
of  our  Diocesan  Conventions  ?  This  body  elects 
a  Bishop,  and  it  alone,  in  the  diocese,  has  power 
to  present  him  for  trial.  It  chooses  the  Standing 
Committee  and  the  Representatives  of  the  Dio- 
cese to  the  General  Convention :  and,  not  to  go 
further  into  detail,  the  internal  or  municipal  con- 
cerns of  the  diocese  are  all  under  its  legislative 
control. 

Surely  such  a  body  ought  to  be  composed  of 
wise  and  good  men,  in  the  highest,  the  Christian, 
sense  of  the  terms.  And  yet  the  writer,  after 
many  years  acquaintance  with  most  parts  of  our 
Church,  can  find  but  two  dioceses  in  which  mem- 


36  CONDITION   AND   TROSPECTS    &C. 

bers  of  the  Convention  are  required  to  be  com- 
municants. He  is  confident  indeed  of  only  one  ; 
it  is  to  be  hoped,  however,  that  there  may  be 
others.  But  certainly  u\  a  great  majority  of  our 
dioceses,  owing  to  this  evil,  business  of  vital  im- 
portance to  all  our  Churches,  and  much  of  it  of 
a  spiritual  character,  is  thus  placed  in  the  hands 
of  those  Avho,  neither  by  Constitution  nor  Canon, 
are  required  to  be  professedly  men  of  spiritual 
discernment  or  spiritual  judgment. 

With  the  knowledge  of  this  sad  oversight  who 
can  be  surprised,  however  grieved  he  must  be, 
at  what  has  at  times  transpired  at  our  Diocesan 
Conventions  1  Let  no  one  suppose  that  the 
humiliating  scenes  witnessed  within  a  few  years 
past  in  the  New  York  Convention,  and  which  so 
shocked  the  public  mind,  are  without  a  parallel. 
But  we  forbear, — and  yet  we  can  scarcely  sup- 
press the  conviction  that  the  present  awful  crisis 
in  our  Church  imposes  upon  each  one  of  her 
members  a  moral  necessity  of  holding  up  this 
subject  in  all  its  length  and  breadth.  The  soul 
of  piety  would  indeed  weep  over  it,  but  the  most 
blind  and  prejudiced  could  not  long  shut  out  the 
salutary  feeling  of  our  need  of  reform.    • 

III.  How  is  it  with  our  Standino-  Committees  ? 
Their  duties  are  almost  entirely  spiritual.    They 


STANDING    C03OIITTEES.  37 

are  the  authorised  counsellors  of  the  Bishop.  No 
one  can  be  ordained  without  their  permission  ; 
and  many  other  duties  equally  important  to  the 
spiritual  interests  of  the  Church  are  imposed  upon 
them.  It  would  seem,  then,  to  admit  of  no  question 
that  they  upon  whose  judgment  it  so  largely  de- 
pends who  shall  be  admitted  to  the  Gospel 
ministry — to  say  nothing  of  their  other  duties — 
ought  themselves  to  be  spiritually-minded,  indeed 
eminently  wise  and  holy  men.  It  is  fearfully 
dangerous,  and  no  small  sin,  to  commit  such  a 
trust  to  any  others.  And  yej;,  are  there  more  than 
two  or  three  dioceses  whose  legislation  requires 
the  members  of  this  body  to  be  professors  of  re- 
ligion ?  The  writer  knows  not  of  so  many ;  but 
he  is  very  happy  to  be  able  to  add,  that  there  ap- 
pears to  be  a  quite  extensively  felt  propriety  that 
the  lay  members  of  the  Standing  Conm:iittees 
should  be  communicants.  Hence  they  are,  he 
believes,  for  the  most  part  of  this  character. 

One  fact,  however,  in  connection  with  this 
subject,  he  will  mention,  and  that  because  it  has 
in  a  few  years  past  excited  so  wide  and  deep  an 
interest  among  us.  It  is  a  legislative  provision 
of  our  church  that  the  election  of  a  bishop  by  a 
diocese  must  ordinarily  be  submitted  to  the  Stand- 
ing Committees  of  all  the  other  dioceses  for  their 


38  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

concurrence  before  he  can  be  consecrated.  Now 
such  is  the  state  of  things  among  us,  or  at  least 
was  our  state  not  long  since,  that  it  became  a 
matter  of  complaint  even  in  some  of  our  re- 
ligious periodicals,  and  among  them  the  Episcopal 
Recorder,  that  whenever  a  minister  reputed  evan- 
gelical was  presented  to  the  Standing  Committees 
as  a  Bishop-elect,  every  possible  difficulty  was 
thrown  in  the  way  of  his  consecration,  so  as  to  oc- 
casion long,  vexatious,  and  most  injurious  delays. 
But  in  the  case  of  others  no  such  trouble  was  ex- 
perienced. The  one  seemed  to  go  in  upon  a  flood, 
wafted  onward  by  every  propitious  breeze;  the 
other  had  to  pass  through  a  perilous  succession 
of  rocks,  and  straits,  and  adverse  gales,  so  as 
'':scarce]y  to  be  saved." 

IV.  We  now  come  to  a  most  important  body 
— the  General  Convention.  This  is  the  grand 
council  of  our  Church.  It  is  our  supreme  legis- 
lative body.  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  the 
Homilies — in  a  word,  the  faith  and  worship  of  our 
Church,  much  of  its  discipline,  and  a  great  va- 
riety of  other  matters  of  vital  interest  to  the  whole 
Church  and  each  member  thereof,  are  subject  to 
the  authority  of  the  General  Convention.  There- 
can  be  no  appeal  from  it.  Its  decisions  are  final 
and  universally  binding. 


GENERAL   C0NVENT10^',    ITS    KirORTAXCE.  39 

Here,  will  it  not  naturally  be  expected  by  every 
intelligent,  pious  person,  that  we  shall  find  in 
our  Constitution,  the  most  clear,  careful  and 
strong  provisions  made  to  guard  against  the  ad- 
mission of  any  into  this  body,  but  men  of  eminent- 
ly religious  character — men  full  of  faith  and  of 
the  Holy  Ghost?  Would  that  it  were  so  ! .  But 
let  any  one  closely  examine  the  last  edition  of  the 
Constitution  and  Canons  of  the  General  Conven- 
tion, as  published  in  Swords'  Almanac  for  1845, 
and  he  will  discover  not  a  single  line,  not  a  word, 
requiring  even  a  profession  of  religion  as  neces- 
sary to  membership  in  that  body.  So  that  a  lay- 
man, without  even  the  form  of  godliness,  a 
perfectly  worldly  man,  even  an  infidel,  may  take 
his  seat  in  this  our  grand  Ecclesiastical  council, 
and  thus  exercise  a  controlling  influence  in  the 
most  vital  matters  affectinor  our  whole  Church. 
The  writer  has  never  yet  met  with  a  plain,  pious 
communicant,  or  even  with  a  person  of  the  least 
serious  reflection,  who  could  believe  this  fact, 
when  first  stated  in  his  presence.  He  would  ex- 
press astonishment  and  incredulity  ;  he  would 
suppose  that  there  must  be  some  mistake  in  the 
matter ;  that  it  could  not  possibly  be  so  !  And  all 
this  would  be  changed  into  deep  grief  when  as- 
sured that  it  was  really  the  fact. 


40  CONDITION   AND   PROSPECTS    &C. 

And  have  we  such  organic  evils  among  us, — 
evils  not  merely  in  one  or  two  parts,  but  running 
through  nearly  the  whole  of  our  Ecclesiastical  fa- 
bric, from  the  Vestry  upward  to  the  General  Con- 
vention ?  We  are  av/are,  indeed,  that  the  natural 
mind — the  unreofenerate  man — however  wise  in 
this  world's  wisdom,  may  see  nothing  in  all  this  to 
disapprove,  nothing  to  excite  apprehension.  But 
can  the  enlightened  Christian,  the  spiritually-mind- 
ed man,  who  seriously  reflects  upon  these  things, 
fail  to  discern  here  many  and  widely  open  doors 
at  which  Romanism,  and  almost  every  other  form 
of  error,  may  not  only  creep  in,  but  stalk  in  with 
form  erect,  and  unblushing  face,  setting  at  de- 
fiance the  paralysed  arm  of  truth  and  godly  dis- 
cipline ?  And  can  such  a  man  wonder,  in  view  of 
these  things,  that  a  Yestry,  and  a  Standing  Com- 
mittee, and  a  Bishop,  and  his  Presbyters,  were  all 
found  ready  and  willing — and  that  in  the  very 
face  of  a  solemn,  righteous  protest  before  God  and 
his  people — to  introduce  into  our  ministry  a  can- 
didate who  had  openly  avowed  his  adherence  to 
the  doctrinal  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent  ? 
Strange  would  we  have  thought  it,  as  things  are, 
had  this  Bishop  hesitated  to  vindicate  what  he 
had  done  at  the  subsequent  Diocesan  Convention, 
or  had  that  Convention   censured  his  doings. 


DEFECTS  OF  GENERAL  CONVENTION.     41 

And  yet  were  we  Church-loving  and  confiding 
enough  to  hope  that  the  next  General  Conven- 
tion would  set  the  whole  matter  straight,  and  fix 
deeply  its  brand  of  righteous  condemnation  upon 
such  an  unprotestant^  unhallowed  procedure.  But 
how  was  our  simplicity  rebuked!  and  all  our 
high  hopes — so  reverentially  cherished — cast 
down  to  the  ground  ! 

It  ought  to  be  to  us  all,  and  certainly  to  every 
enlightened,  pious  member  of  our  Church,  it  will 
be,  a  matter — not  of  envious  reflection  but — sin- 
cere thanksgiving  to  the  Great  Head  of  the 
Church,  that  scarcely  any,  if  any,  of  the  various 
other  evangelical  denominations  have  been  betray- 
ed into  our  organic  error.  Whatever  their  prac- 
tice may  be  in  regard  to  admission  to  the  ministry, 
or  to  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  or  to  Church 
discipline — they  have  at  least  kept  the  manage- 
ment of  these  things  in  the  hands  of  professedly 
religious  men.  Sessions,  Associations,  Presby- 
teries, Councils,  Synods,  Conferences,  Conso- 
ciations, or  by  whatever  name  the  different  de- 
nominations may  designate  their  several  ecclesi- 
astical bodies, — these  must  all  be  composed  of 
communicants — men  who  claim  spiritual  charac- 
ter, spiritual  discernment,  spiritual  judgment,  and 
to  whom  their  Church,  in  the  exercise  of  a  chari- 

4* 


42  CONDITION.  AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

table  hope,  has  accorded  this  high  claim.  Doubt- 
less there  are  many  other  things  which  make  us 
to  differ  in  many  respects  from  our  fellow  Chris- 
tians of  other  names ;  but  no  one,  we  think,  of 
ordinary  intelligence  and  piety,  can  reflect  upon 
our  peculiar  organic  defects  without  seeing  how 
closely  connected  these  are  with  our  present  ^ec?^- 
liar  troubles.  Are  not  the  World  and  Popery  fast 
friends?  And  is  not  the  only  real  antagonist  of 
the  latter,  and  consequently  its  most  effectual 
preventive — a  true,  spiritual  Christianity  ?  The 
Church,  therefore,  that  has  unhappily  not  been 
careful  to  entrust  her  spiritual  interests  exclusive- 
ly to  the  hands  of  spiritual  men,  but  left  almost 
every  door  open  to  the  world, — cannot  reasonably 
expect  to  escape  frequent  visitations  of  the  "man 
of  sin."  How  many  of  these  disastrous  intrusions 
can  we  count  since  the  days  of  Edward  VI.?  And 
how  long  before  we  shall  shut  them  out  ?  The 
Lord  give  us  wisdom  and  strength  for  this  neces- 
sary reformation  work ! 

We  say  necessary  reformation  work,  for,  unless 
we  close  our  eyes  against  the  teachings  of  God's 
Word,  and  all  experience,  what  expectations  can 
we  cherish  so  long  as  such  organic  defects  are 
suffered  to  remain?  Were  it  possible  for  us  this 
moment  as  a  Church,  "  to  Avash  ourselves  with 


THE    WORLD    ATSTD    POPEEY    FAST    FRIEr\DS,         43 

snow  water,  and  make  our  hands  never  so  clean," 
how  long  could  we  preserve  our  purity  with  these 
flood-gates  of  evil  opening  in  upon  us? 

He  is  no  true  friend  of  the  Church  who  seeks 
to  cover  over  these  things,  instead  of  honestly 
lifting  up  the  voice  of  warning.  He  is  not  wor- 
thy to  approach  her  communion,  much  less  to 
minister  at  her  altars,  who,  in  this  her  most  awful 
crisis,  can  stand  selfishly  counting  the  cost  of 
faithfulness  to  her,  instead  of  being  ready  and  de- 
termined to  peril  all  but  the  salvation  of  his  soul, 
for  her  welfare. 


44  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 


CHAPTER   V. 

At-  what  a  crisis  did  every  enlightened  Chris- 
tian feel  he  had  arrived  when  about  to  make  a 
profession  of  religion  !  How  important,  how 
solemn,  how  awfully  responsible  the  step!  It  is  a 
great  thing  to  be  a  Christian  ;  it  is  a  great  thing 
alsOj  to  profess  to  be  a  Christian.  He  who  does 
it,  ceases  from  that  moment  to  stand  alone ;  he 
becomes  one  of  a  company  which  no  man  can 
number ;  he  involves  the  best  interests  of  millions, 
he  involves  Christ's  cause,  in  his  individual  career. 
Greatly  may  he  benefit,  or  greatly  must  he  injure, 
these  interests  and  this  cause. 

That  a  man  who  has  reached  such  a  point 
should  therefore  pause,  and  reflect,  and  search 
inwardly,  and  look  upward  with  deep  solicitude, 
is  to  be  expected.  To  be  without  these  thoughts 
and  feelings,  these  hopes  and  fears,  would  argue  a 
sad  state.  The  mere  formal  professor  of  religion 
— the  man  who  has  never  known  the  plague  of 
his  own  heart  and  the  preciousness  of  a  Saviour, 
may  indeed  doubt  their  sincerity,  or  despise  them 
as  the  day-dreams  of  a  weak  but  honest  fanaticism: 


VIFNVS    OF   THE   EEGE^ERATE   SOUL.  45 

but  every  child  of  God,  every  truly  converted 
soulj  knows  them  in  the  experience  of  his  own 
heart,  and  by  the  higher  teachings  of  God's  word 
and  Spirit,  to  be  solemn,  inexpressibly  solemn 
realities.  • 

Ev§ry  regenerate  soul  knows,  also,  that  ''the 
heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things;"  and  therefore 
dreads  self-delusion,  and  therefore  desires  nothing 
so  much  as  to  be  faithfully  dealt  with.  He  knows 
how  much  he  may  grieve  the  hearts  of  God's 
people,  how  much  injury  he  may  do  to  the  world 
about  him,  how  much  dishonor  he  may  bring 
upon  the  name  and  the  Church  and  the  cause  of 
Christ,  by  an  unsound  profession,  and  its  conse- 
quence, an  inconsistent,  unholy  walk  :  and  there- 
fore, when  such  a  man,  after  much  thought  and 
prayer,  goes  to  a  minister  to  open  his  mind  to  him, 
and  to  ask  counsel  of  him  in  respect  to  a  profes- 
sion of  religion,  he  determines  that  he  will  freely 
and  fully  unbosom  himself,  state  his  whole  case 
just  as  it  is — all  God's  dealings  with  him.  all  his 
thoughts  and  feelings,  all  his  hopes  and  fears^ 
since  first  brought  seriously  to  reflect  upon  "  the 
things  which  belong  to  his  everlasting  peace. 
And  he  will  expect  the  minister — as  he  feels  for 
his  eternal  interests,  as  he  values  his  own  soul, 
as  he  regards   the   purity   and  welfare  of  the 


46  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

Church,  as  he  desires  the  best  interests  of  men — 
to  deal  honestly  with  him,  to  search  him 
thoroughly  and  faithfully.  So  that  if  he  have 
deceived  himself,  he  may  be  undeceived  before  it 
be  too  late,  and  put  upon  the  right  path  ;  and  thus 
he  himself,  and  the  Church,  and  the  world,  may 
be  preserved  from  the  injury  and  the  perils  of  an 
imsound  profession. 

Such,  we  believe,  will  be,  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  the  views  and  the  exercises  of  every  truly 
enlightened  Christian  when  about  to  make  a  pub- 
lic profession  of  religion.  But  has  he  been  usually 
met  in  a  corresponding  spirit  hy  our  ministers  ? 
How  has  it  been  with  us  in — ■ 

I.  Confirmation?  No  intelligent  Christian  can 
read  the  office  of  Confirmation  and  fail  to  discern 
that  the  qualifications  for  that  rite  are  "repentance 
toward  God,  faith  toward  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ," 
— in  other  words,  true  piety.  He  who  is  not  fit 
in  point  of  spiritual  character  for  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, is  not  fit  for  confirmation.  And  he  who  has 
been  worthily  confirmed  ought  to  approach  the 
table  of  the  Lord  at  the  first  opportunity.  Not  to 
do  so,  is  to  neglect  a  solemn  duty. 

And  yet  is  it  not  a  fact,  that  of  those  confirmed, 
many  never  come  to  the  Lord's  Supper  at  all,  and 
many  put  it  off  for  years?  It  will  be  found  upon 


U]\"FAITIIFUL^7.SS   IN   C0XFIR3IATI0X.  47 

inquiry  into  such  cases,  that  their  neglect  fre- 
quently arises  from  a  conviction  that  they  are 
not  prepared  for  the  Communion.  And  unhappily 
these  convictions  are  too  often  well  founded.  But 
how  happens  this?  Does  it  not  proceed  from  the 
fact  that  ministers  are  frequently  not  careful 
enough  to  explain  the  true  nature  of  Confirmation, 
and  those  spiritual  qualifications  which  are  in- 
dispensable to  a  worthy  and  profitable  participa- 
tion in  it?  One  incident  the  writer  will  relate  in 
illustration  of  the  errors  and  evils  which  he  fears 
are  too  common  upon  this  subject. 

The  Rev.  Mr. had  notice  of  an  Episcopal 

visitation  of  his  parish.  The  Bishop  arrived, 
and  when  the  list  of  candidates  was  handed  to 
him,  appeared  much  chagrined  that  the  number 
was  so  small.  He  added,  however,  ''Never  mind, 

never  mind,  I  recollect  that  in  the  diocese  of , 

the  Bishop,  in  the  course  of  his  visitation,  once 
came  to  a  Church,  where  he  found  to  his  great 
disappointment  very  few  to  be  confirmed.  He  ap- 
pointed another  day,  a  few  weeks  after,  to  hold  a 
second  confirmation,  and  upon  returning  he  had 
the  satisfaction  of  confirminof  over  a  hundred 
more.  And  as  I  intend  to  stay  here  another  Sun- 
day, we  can  then  have  a  larger  confirmation." 
"Ah,  Bishop!"  replied  the  Pastor,  "Such  cases  as 


48  CONDITIOX    AND    PRQSPECTS    &C. 

you  Speak  of,  it  is  to  be  feared,  have  been  too  com- 
mon. The  thoughtless,  the  worldly,  and  the 
self-deceived  have  been  pressed  forward  in  throngs 
to  the  altar!  But  have  not  these  occurrences 
brought  great  evil  upon  our  Church,  and  lowered 
her  character  in  the  eyes  of  serious  people  of  other 
denominations?  The  list  I  have  given  you,  with 
my  name  appended  thereto,  in  obedience  to  the 
Rubric,  comprises  all  in  the  parish  not  confirmed, 
of  whom  I  can  entertain  a  charitable  hope  that 
they  possess  the  spiritual  qualifications  required 
by  the  Prayer-book.  I  have  labored  for  some 
weeks  among  my  people  with  a  special  reference 
to  this  solemn  service,  and  I  can  see  no  reason  to 
expect  that  the  catalogue  will  be  much,  if  at  all, 
increased  by  next  Sunday." 

II.  Have  we  been  faithful  in  regard  to  the 
LorcTs  Supper?  That  Christan  character,  or  true 
piety  is  essential  in  a  worthy  commilnicant,  is 
manifest  from  the  Scriptures,  and  with  equal  clear- 
ness is  required  by  our  Church.  Repentance  and 
faith,  and  an  entire  consecration  of  heart  and  life 
to  the  Saviour,  are  most  plainly  and  fully  insisted 
upon  in  the  Communion  Service.  Indeed  it 
would,  we  believe,  be  scarcely  possible  for  the 
pen  of  man  to  frame  anything  upon  these  points 
more  solemn,  searching,  and  heart-alFecting.   Un- 


WORLDLY   C03DirNICAXTS.  49 

doubted! y  the  Communion  Office,  like  all  other 
of  mail's  productioijs,  has  its  defects;  there  is  no 
perfect  book  but  God's;  still  may  we  not  safely 
assert  that  the  principles  and  spirit  of  this  Office 
are  in  most  impressive  harmony  with  the  views 
and  exercises  of  the  pious  heart  in  relation  to  the 
Sacrament? 

But  have  the  principles  and  the  spirit  of  this 
service  been  duly  carried  out  by  us?  We  do  not 
say  that  the  service  is  of  no  avail  without  such 
pastoral  fidelity;  for  doubtless,  even  under  the 
most  untoward  circumstances,  it  has,  of  itself,  at 
times,  been  the  means,  under  divine  grace,  of 
awakening  the  consciences  of  impenitent  men,  of 
directing  the  inquiring,  and  exciting  the  humble 
believer  to  increased  diligence  in  his  holy  calling. 
But  this  we  do  say,  that  if  our  ministers  have  not 
in  times  past  been  faithful  in  this  matter,  very 
many  unconverted  men  have  found  their  way  into 
our  Churches — some  thoughtless,  some  self- 
deceived,  and  others  still  worse,  but  all  worhllv^ 
worldly. 

The  influence  of  such  communicants  is  pecu- 
liarly disastrous.  Their  spirit,  their  character, 
their  daily  walk,  discourage  faithful  ministers, 
greatly  impair  their  influence,  hinder  sincere  in- 
quirers, and  prove  terrible  stumbling  blocks  to  the 
5 


50  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

worldly  and  the  wicked.  Thus  they  hang,  at  least, 
as  dead  weights  upon  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  in 
too  many  cases,  are  its  most  eiFicient  and  malig- 
nant opposers.  Better,  we  have  often  thought,  bet- 
ter go  out  into  the  highways  and  hedges  and 
preach  the  gospel,  than  minister  in  a  Church  where 
a  large  majority  of  its  communicants  are  of  such 
a  character.  The  openly  impenitent  and  wicked 
will  generally  treat  a  faithful  minister  better 
than  such  communicants  usually  do;  they  will  be 
more  accessible  to  his  endeavors  to  do  them  ofood, 
and  more  likely  to  find  a  blessing  under  his  labors. 
(Matt.  xxi.  31,  32.)  And  when  such  a  minister 
has,  in  the  course  of  Providence,  been  placed  in 
a  Church  so  unhappily  situated  usually,  one  of 
the  first,  if  not  the  most  salutary,  effects  of  his 
preaching  and  pastoral  labors,  is  the  falling  off  of 
the  communion.  Some  will  openly  quarrel  with 
the  truth;  and  quit  in  anger;  others  will  quietly 
cease  to  approach  the  table  of  the  Lord,  because 
honestly  convinced  that  they  ought  not  in  their 
present  state  ever  to  have  gone  to  it.  When  the 
Church  has  been  thus  purged,  another  and  a  bet- 
ter state  of  thinofs  will  be  almost  sure  to  foflow. 
The  tone  of  piety  will  become  elevated.  Those 
left  will  appear  in  quite  a  different  light,  both  to 
themselves  and  to  others.   They  will  more  deeply 


EVILS    OF    LAX    COMMUNION.  51 

realise  their  responsibility,  and  exert  a  more 
decided  influence  for  good.  And  the  result  of  all 
this  can  scarcely  fail  to  be  large  accessions,  both 
to  the  cono^reo:ation  and  the  communion,  and 
such  accessions,  in  the  latter  case,  as  will  bring 
increased  spiritual  strength  and  holy  influence  to 
the  Church,  and  thus  lay  the  foundation  for  a 
much  greater  prosperity  than  it  ever  before  wit- 
nessed. 

Have  we,  then,  been  generally  faithful  in  regard 
to  the  Lord's  Supper?  From  long,  and  careful, 
and  quite  extensive  observation,  the  writer  is 
compelled  to  express  his  convictions  that  we  have 
not  been.  Few  things,  indeed,  are  more  painful 
to  him  than  to  reflect  upon  his  own  personal  ex- 
perience in  this  matter.  He  himself  was  admitted 
to  the  communion  by  one  of  the  most  distinguish- 
ed ministers  of  our  Church  without  the  slightest 
examination,  either  as  it  respected  his  views  of 
the  Gospel,  or  his  experience  of  its  power.  He 
might  have  been  not  only  spiritually  dead,  but 
utterly  ignorant  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and 
even  an  infidel,  for  aught  his  Pastor  knew.  And 
such,  he  is  pained  to  add,  has  been  the  fact  with 
multitudes,  also,  with  whom  he  has  been  con- 
versant since  that  day,  in  diflerent  parts  of  the 
Church.  He  thought,  indeed,  at  first,  that  his 
own  case  was  peculiar,  and  was  surprised  and 


52  CONDITION    AND    TROSPECTS    &C. 

grieved  at  its  occurrence ;  but  he  quickly  found 
that  he  v/as  not  alone:  and  the  thirty  3^ears  that 
have  since  elapsed,  while  tliey  enlarged  to  a  sad 
extent  his  sense  of  the  evil,  have  prepared  his 
mind  to  view,  without  surprise,  certain  very 
painful  results  that  have  frequently  forced  them- 
selves upon  his  notice,  a  few  of  which  we  may 
here  just  glance  at.  The  first,  is  the  fact  that  the 
religious  world  about  us,  very  generally  suppose 
that  the  standard  of  piety  is  lower  in  our  Church 
than  in  the  other  orthodox  denominations;  that  it 
is  comparatively  an  easy  thing  to  get  into  our  com- 
munion ;  and  conseqiiently  that  such  a  position 
is  but  equivocal  evidence  of  piety.  Again :  it  is 
usually  thought  among  us  of  little  importance  to 
give  or  require  certificates  of  good  standing  in 
the  case  of  those  who  are  about  to  leave  one  of  our 
churches,  or  be  admitted  to  another,  in  the  same,  or 
perhaps  a  distant  diocess.  Hence  such  certificates 
are  seldom  asked  or  given.  What  a  sad  state  of 
things  does  this  indicate  1  How  easy  the  access  to 
communion  !  And  of  how  little  worth  the  privi- 
lege !  Indeed,  so  much  a  matter  of  course  has  this 
looseness  of  religious  profession  become  among 
uSj  that  the  writer  has  known  the  bare  asking  for 
a  letter  by  a  pastor  in  the  case  of  a  professed 
communicant,  who  had  applied  to  be  received  as 
suchj  to  be  treated  as  an  insult.    Pastoral  fidelity, 


GUARD    THE    LORd's    SUPPER   CAREFULLY.  53 

here,  instead  of  being  expected  and  rightly  appre- 
ciated, was  regarded  as  so  remarkable  an  excep- 
tion, that  it  called  forth  angry  remonstrance. 
One  other  fact  we  will  mention ;  it  is  the  difficulty 
of  making  our  shrewd,  frank,  non-professing 
churchmen  feel  the  importance  of  requiring  a 
profession  of  religion  in  those  to  whom  the  atfairs 
of  the  Church  are  to  be  intrusted  as  vestrymen, 
members  of  Convention,  or  of  other  ecclesiastical 
bodies.  They  cannot  see  such  a  difference  be- 
tween professors  of  religion  and  themselves,  as 
would  make  it  a  matter  of  much  importance 
which  of  them  should  manage  these  affairs. 

Great,  however,  as  these  evils  are,  it  was  not 
with  a  primary  reference  to  them  we  commenced 
these  essays.  It  is  an  ulterior  evil  we  have  main- 
ly in  view.  It  is  the  fact,  that  if,  through  the 
want  of  a  faithfully  administered  spiritual  disci- 
pline large  numbers  of  unconverted  men — men 
strangers  to  the  truth,  and  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
— have  been  admitted  to  the  communion  of  our 
Church, — if  these  things  are  so,  the  wide  spread 
of  Puseyism  is  at  once  accounted  for.  Why,  such 
is  just  the  foundation  on  which  any  Popish  de- 
velopment would  choose  to  build.  The  religion  of 
sacraments,  and  priestly  assumptions,  and  eccle- 
siastical pomp,  finds  a  congenial   home  in   the 

5* 


54  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

blindness  and  self-riglitecusness  of  the  unre- 
generate  professor  of  religion.  The  Gospel  faith- 
fully administered  would  speedily  expose  the 
unsoundness  of  such  a  professor,  and  lay  all  his 
proud  hopes  in  the  dust;  but  Popish  darkness, 
and  Popish  superstitions  are  the  very  element  in 
which  he  can  breathe  and  move  most  freely. 

And  thus  it  is,  that  loose  views  of  Confirmation 
and  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  the  loose  practices 
growing  out  of  these  views,  could  not  but  largely 
lay  us  open  to  the  sore  troubles  that  have  come 
upon  us ;  and  hence,  till  we  reform  these  views 
and  practices,  we  cannot  get  rid  of  our  troubles. 

Let  each  Pastor,  and  let  each  member  of  our 
Church,  lay  these  things  to  heart.  Do  not  the 
times  call  for  close,  searching  inquiry,  and  frank, 
faithful  acknowledsfment  ?  The  writer  has 
spoken  plainly,  but,  he  trusts,  in  the  spirit  of 
kindness,  and  with  a  hearty  desire  to  do  good  to 
the  Church  of  his  childhood,  and  the  Church  in 
whose  weal  and  whose  wo  Providence  has  so 
long  and  so  largely  wrapt  up  his  own. 


THE    CHURCH HER    DUTY.  55 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Church  of  Christ  was  at  first  gathered  by 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  obligation 
rested  upon  her,  from  the  first,  to  extend  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  as  widely  and  as  rapidly 
as  possible.  This  is  the  Church's  mission  ;  it  is 
the  great  work  which  her  divine  Head  has  called 
her  to  do  ;  and  it  can  never  be  said  to  be  accom- 
plished till  "the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea." 
••  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  Gospel 
to  every  creature." 

The  Gospel  itself  is  the  church's  peculiar  trea- 
sure, her  true  glory.  She  should  guard  it  with 
the  utmost  care;  see  to  it  that  nothing  dims  its 
lustre;  and  never  cease  her  efforts  to  make  it 
known  to  others,  so  long  as  there  is  one  spot  on 
earth,  one  heart  not  illumined  by  its  heavenly 
beams.  After  her  own  growth  in  grace,  and 
indeed  as  a  means  most  effectually  subservient 
to  it,  this  is  the  Church's  first  calling,  her  chief 
duty. 

How  great,  then,  how  transcendent,  the  honor 
put  upon  the  Church  !  Her  chief  concern  is  with 
things   spiritual   and   eternal, — the   truth,    God, 


56  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

Christ,  the  Holy  Ghost,  immortal  souls  !  In  these 
matters,  indeed,  her  part  is  merely  a  ministry, — 
she  is  to  make  known  the  Saviour  in  his  person, 
offices,  work  and  glory.  But  she  has  the  promise 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  render  her  ministry  of  the 
truth  effectual  to  the  salvation  of  souls,  and  the 
advancement  of  God's  kingdom  on  earth.  Christ 
is  indeed  the  only  law-giver  or  source  of  power 
to  the  Church,  and  therefore  what  he  has  been 
pleased  to  reveal  by  his  spirit,  is  all  the  Church 
is  bound  to  believe  or  do,  and  all  she  is  to  require 
of  others,  or  they  are  bound  to  receive  at  her 
hands.  This  revelation  is  contained  in  the  Bible 
which  is  therefore  to  the  Church,  and  through 
her  to  the  world,  the  only  standard  of  faith  and 
practice. 

If  these  things  be  so,  the  true  position  of  the 
Church  is  then  one  of  entire  subserviency  to 
Christ,  and  only  so  far  as  she  faithfully  occupies 
this  humble  position,  is  she  really  honorable  in 
the  sight  of  God  and  of  all  holy  beings,  or  can 
she  prove  a  blessing  to  the  world. 

So  important,  then,  is  the  daty^  so  precious  the 
treasure^  so  high  the  honur^  and  yet  so  lowly  the 
position  of  the  Church. 

But  suppose,  instead  of  this  lowly  position  of  a 
"  witness  and  a  keeper  of  holy  writ,'^  this  minis- 
try of  perfect  dependence  upon  Christ  and  entire 


THE    I3IPI0US   CLAIMS    OF    R03IE.  57 

subjection  to  him,  there  should  be  assumed  by- 
some,  professing  to  be  members  of  the  visible 
Church,  an  exchisive  power — exclusive  so  far  as 
other  human  agency  is  concerned — to  legislate 
for  men's  consciences,  and  to  dispense  the  grace 
of  the  Gospel  at  their  will,  so  that  all  who  sub- 
mitted to  them  were  really  regenerate,  and  par- 
takers of  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel ;  but  that 
all  others,  however  penitent,  believing,  and  holy, 
had  no  part  nor  lot  in  the  covenant  of  mercy. 
Arrogant  and  blasphemous  as  such  an  assumption 
would  be,  it  has  been  made.  What  we  have 
stated^  as  an  hypothesis,  it  is  well  known,  is 
really  historical  fact.  Just  the  power  above  sup- 
posed is  claimed  and  exercised  by  her  who  "sit- 
teth  on  the  seven  mountains."  From  Rome  there 
went  forth  the  decree — not  that  the  authority  of 
the  Bible  was  to  be  denied,  O  no!  but — that  the 
Church  had  a  co-ordinate  authority  to  bind  men's 
consciences ;  that  all  who  bowed  before  this  claim 
were  of  the  true  fold  of  Christ  and  partakers  of 
his  blessing;  but  that  all  others,  whatever  they 
might  profess,  were  really  schismatics  and  here- 
tics under  the  indignation  of  Almighty  God  and  of 
his  blessed  Apostles,  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.  Thus 
instead  of  being  a  divinely  constituted  "witness 
and  keeper  of  holy  writ,''  a  servant  of  Christ,  and 


58  CONDITION    AND   PROSPECTS    &C. 

of  men  for  Christ's  sake,  Rome  made  herself  a 
sovereign  legislator  and  judge — a  '•  lord  over 
God's  heritage," — dispensing  life  and  death,  tem- 
poral and  eternal,  at  her  will  and  pleasure.  In  a 
word,  Rome  ceased  to  be  a  Church  of  Cli?'ist — 
she  became  Antichrist, 

And  need  we  say,  when  this  other  foundation 
than  the  Bible  was  laid,  what  a  monstrous  fabric 
of  despotism  was  built  upon  it  ?  To  the  power  of 
the  Roman  Antichrist  almost  all  the  nations  were 
compelled,  sooner  or  later,  to  submit.  And  to 
secure  their  allegiance,  while  she  enchanted  their 
senses  by  her  gorgeous  ceremonial,  and  gave  in- 
dulgence to  their  lusts,  she  used  all  her  art  and 
power  to  put  out  the  light  and  enfeeble  the  ener- 
gies of  every  people,  and  thus  bring  a  second 
childhood  of  ignorance  and  imbecility  upon  the 
world.  The  Bible  became  a  sealed  book,  the 
fountains  of  knowledge  were  dried  up,  and  that 
long  night  of  abject  submission,  barbarism  and 
wretchedness  followed,  emphatically  termed  "the 
dark  ages." 

Neither  need  we  speak  of  the  mighty  efforts  of 
Luther,  Calvin  and  Cranmer,  and  their  noble 
compeers,  to  enlighten,  and  elevate,  and  purif}^ 
the  nations  so  long  benighted,  and  crushed  down, 
and  corrupted  by  '•  the  man  of  sin."     They  em- 


THE    M'ORK    OF    THE    REFORMERS.  59 

ployed  one  chief  instrument,  but  that  was  '-mighty 
through  God  to  the  pulling  down  of  strong  holds." 
They  restored  the  Bible  to  its  rightful  authority. 
The  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century  was 
emphatically  the  work  of  the  Gospel;  and  it  con- 
tinued to  prosper  and  extend  itself  so  long  as  the 
Church  relied  simply  upon  the  preaching  of  "the 
truth."  The  blessings  of  popular  instruction, 
freedom  and  happiness,  went  hand  in  hand  with 
the  work  of  the  Reformers,  and  have  been  trans- 
mitted to  the  nations  of  our  day,  just  so  far  as 
each  one  has  faithfully  cherished  the  spirit  and 
the  truth  of  the  Reformation. 

Let  us  here  pause  to  inquire  what  it  is  that 
constitutes  Popery,  or  rather  what  is  the  essence 
of  Popery,  its  fundamental  principle — that  from 
which  all  its  other  errors  and  evils  flow. 

It  has  been  generally  thought  to  consist  in  the 
exaltation  of  the  sacraments,  of  sacerdotal  power, 
and  of  the  merit  of  works,  because  these  errors 
naturally  introduce  that  long  train  of  gorgeous 
ceremonies,  debasing  superstitions,  self-righteous 
penances,  and  oppressive  exactions  which  make 
up  practical  Popery,  or  the  body  of"  the  man  of 
sin."  That  these  corruptions  naturally  grow 
out  of  the  errors  of  Popery,  in  respect  to  the  sacra- 
ments, the  priesthood,  and  human  merits,  there 


CO  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

can  be  no  doubt.  Bat  do  not  they  stand  related 
to  each  other  only  as  the  fruit  to  the  tree? — for 
the  root  must  we  not  look  more  deeply? 

There  is,  among"  the  many  propliecies  of  the 
Bible  upon  this  subject,  one  which,  if  we  mistake 
.not,  sounds  the  very  depths  of  "the  mystery  of 
iniquity."  It  is  as  follows : — "  Let  no  man  deceive 
you  by  any  means;  for  that  day  shall  not  come 
except  there  come  a  falling  away  first,  and  that 
man  of  sin  be  revealed,  the  son  of  perdition,  who 
opposeth  and  exalteth  himself  above  all  that  is 
called  God,  or  that  is  worshiped ;  so  that  he,  as 
God^  diteth  in  the  temple  of  Go  J  ^  showing  him- 
self that  he  is  God:'~{2  Thes.  ii.  3,  4.)  Here 
the  dark  abyss  is  clearly  opened  up,  and  we  may 
look  down  into  the  very  heart  of  "the  man  of  sin." 
He  first  begins  with  usurping  the  throne  of  God, 
— sitting  in  the  temple  of  God, — and  then  puts 
forth  such  claims  as  belong  only  to  God.  How 
opposite  is  all  this  to  true  Christianity!  In  the 
latter,  God  is  the  only  Lord  of  conscience,  and 
therefore  his  revealed  will,  the  Bible,  is  our  only 
rule  of  faith  and  practice,  and  the  Church  is 
merely  "a  witness  and  a  keeper  of  holy  writ." 
As  Christ's  servant,  her  duty  is  to  publish  his 
Gospel  to  all  nations.  Here  her  power  and  her 
obligations  alike  end.   Hers  is  merely  a  ministry. 


THE    ESSENTIAL    PRINCIPLE    OF    POPERY.  61 

She  cannot  add  to  the  truths  and  precepts  of 
God's  word;  she  dares  not  diminish  them.  She 
has  no  sovereign  authority  over  men's  consciences; 
she  claims  none;  she  is  merely  their  servant  for 
Jesus'  sake. 

Now  let  it  be  carefully  noted  that  the  Church 
in  this  her  rightful,  her  scriptural  position,  in 
whatever  age,  or  whatever  part  of  the  world  we 
regard  her, — the  Church  is  uniformly  found,  as 
a  faithful  witness  and  keeper  of  God's  word,  to 
hold  up  the  doctrines  of  grace,  the  obligations  of 
the  law  uf  holiness^  and  the  sacredness  of  human 
rights,  and  especially  of  the  rights  of  conscience. 
But  when  any  particular  Church  begins  to  usurp 
the  throne  of  God,  to  sit  in  the  temple  of  God, 
and  to  claim  the  subjection  of  men's  consciences 
to  her  decrees,  the  Bible  sooner  or  later  becomes 
a  forbidden  book,  and  the  power  of  her  priest- 
hood, and  the  efficacy  of  her  sacraments,  and  the 
merits  of  her  members  are  really  made  lo  super- 
sede Christ  and  the  Gospel  of  his  grace. 

Is  it  not  the  root  of  Popery,  then,  the  claim  of 
divine  authority,  the  usurping  of  God's  throne, 
the  sitting  as  God  in  the  temple  of  God  ?  From 
this  naturally  grow  the  whole  idolatry  of  the 
priesthood  and  of  the  sacraments;  the  assumption 
of  infallibility;  the  doctrine  of  penances  and  of 
6 


62  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS   &C. 

human  merits,  so  opposite  to  the  gospel  of  the 
grace  of  God;  and  that  all-comprehensive,  crush- 
ing despotism:  which,  taken  together,  constitute 
the  full  development  of  Romanism,  the  complete 
body  of  "  the  Man  of  Sin."  Wherever,  then,  we 
discover  this  impious  claim,  however  feebly  put 
forth,  there  we  may  be  certain  that  Popery  is 
begun,  and  that  unless  in  some  way  mercifully 
checked,  it  will  go  on  unto  perfection  :  it  will 
attain  unto  "the  measure  of  the  fulness  of"  Anti- 
Christ. 

Suppose,  for  example,  that  in  certain  parts  of  a 
Church  whose  doctrinal  standards  were  essential- 
ly protestant,  there  should  be  put  forth  not  only 
the  claim  of  a  power  to  bind  men's  consciences, 
but,  along  with  this  tremendous  assumption  of 
an  authority  co-ordinate  with  the  word  of  God,  a 
denial  also  of  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith 
only,  and  of  other  great  evangelical  truths,  and  the 
claim  of  an  exclusive  possession  of  sacerdotal  au- 
thority and  of  Church  ordinances.  Now  who 
cannot  see  with  the  Bible  in  his  hand  and  the 
volume  of  ecclesiastical  history  before  him— who 
cannot  see  in  such  an  anti-evangelical  party  and 
its  lofty  pretensions,  all  the  elements  of  a  genuine 
Popery?  It  requires  only  time  and  favoring  cir- 
cumstances to  grow  up  to  the  full  proportions  of 


THE    POPERY    OF   PROTESTANTISM.  63 

the  man  of  sin,  and  to  stand  forth  in  deadly  an- 
tagonism to  "  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God,*' 
and  the  Uberty  wherewith  Christ  has  made  his 
people  free. 

But  has  such  an  unj:rotestant  claim  ever  been 
put  forth  among  us?  And  have  any  been  found 
in  our  borders  seeking  to  carry  out  these  unscrip- 
tural  and  exclusive  views?  He  must  be  but  little 
conversant  w^ith  our  past  history  or  present  state, 
who  can  be  ignorant  that  what  we  have  supposed 
to  take  place  somewhere,  has  really  occurred  in 
our  church.  Let  any  one  look  into  the  writings 
of  Bishop  Hobart,  the  distinguished  oracle  of  a 
well  known  party  among  us,  and  he  will  there 
find  the  grand  fundamental  principle  of  Popery 
unhesitatingly  laid  down — the  poicei^  to  bind 
men's  consciences  vnth  the  awful  force  of  the 
highest  moral  obligation,  a  power  clearly  divine, 
for  what  more  than  this  as  a  Lawgiver  does  God 
himself  ever  do?  And  he  will  find  it  also  main- 
tained, as  was  to  be  expected,  that  we  are  not 
justified  by  faith  only;  that  the  sacraments  are 
exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  Episcopal  minis- 
try, and  that,  as  administered  by  them,  they  are 
necessary  and  efficient  to  our  regeneration,  justi- 
fication, and  salvation  ; — and  therefore  that  the 
churches  of  other  denominations,  however  evan- 


64  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

gelical  in  doctrine,  are  no  churches  ;  their  sacra- 
ments, no  sacraments ;  their  ministers,  no 
ministers ;  and  that  both  ministers  and  people, 
however  penitent,  believing,  and  holy,  have 
neither  part  nor  lot  in  the  covenant  of  mercy. 
Now,  who  cannot  see  that  the  ground  here  occu- 
pied is  far  away  from  the  scriptural  position  of 
our  protestant  church,  and  scarcely  a  stone's  cast 
off  from  the  territory  of  our  "Lord  God  the 
Pope  ?" 

That  very  many  who  embrace  this  system  of 
Clmrchism  should,  sooner  or  later,  run  up  into 
Puseyism,  will  therefore  surprise  no  one  who 
considers  that  the  relation  between  cause  and 
effect  is  just  as  fixed  in  the  moral  as  in  the 
natural  world.  What  element  of  Puseyism  does 
not  the  Hobart  theology  contain?  Some  of  them 
indeed  quite  largely  developed.  It  is,  in  fact,  but 
a  step  or  two,  and  those  very  short  ones,  from 
the  New  York  school  to  that  of  Oxford.  No  one 
who  stands  at  the  first  point  has  a  right  to  find 
fault  with  those  who  have  gone  onward  to  the 
second.  The  latter  are,  so  fiir  forth,  the  consistent 
men:  they  have  merely  carried  out  their  princi- 
ples a  little  further.  We  would  not,  indeed,  have 
the  others  do  this,  for  we  may  not  wish  for  evil 
that  good  may  come.    Neither  would  we  counsel 


CnURCHISMj     PUSEYISMj     POPERY.  65 

the  latter  to  throw  themselves  openly  into  the 
ranks  of  Rome,  though  this  would  be  much  more 
honest  than  their  present  position,  and  take  away- 
much  of  the  power  they  now  possess  to  do  mis- 
chief to  the  cause  of  Christ.  We  would  rather 
exhort  them  both  to  abandon  their  errors  alto- 
gether, and  embrace  a  scriptural  Christianity, 
and  thus  be  really  Protestants. 

Even  should  the  disciples  of  theHobart  school 
not  generally  run  into  Romanism,  but  remain 
stationary,  we  could  not  but  regard  ir,  on  their 
own  account  at  least,  as  a  happy  inconsistency. 
But  can  they  remain  long  in  their  present  po- 
sition ?  Must  they  not  flxlt  back  on  the  Articles 
and  Homilies  of  the  Church,  or,  go  onward  to 
Rome?  Would  that  wisdom  and  grace  might  be 
given  them  all  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  one 
whom  wewell  knewand  loved,  and  who  was  early 

associated  with  them — the  late  Rev.  Dr. .  He 

had  been  brought  up  at  the  feet  of  the  great 
Master,  and  began  his  very  popular  career  any- 
thing but  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel.  It  pleased 
God,  some  years  afterward,  to  open  his  eyes  to 
his  miserable  spiritual  destitution,  and  lead  him 
to  a  saving  knowledge  of  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus."  He  immediately  became  a  new  man,  and 
a  true  minister.  But  highly  honored  as  he  was 
'  6* 


66  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

from  that  time  as  a  most  successful  laborer  in 
the  Lord's  vineyard,  he  never  lost  thehumih'ating 
recollection  of  his  early  dark  and  unprofitable 
days.  In  speaking  of  these  things  to  the  writer, 
on  a  very  solemn  occasion,  he  added  with  a 
sorrowful  sigh — "In  the  first  years  of  my  mi- 
nistry, I  preached  Bishop  Hobart  and  not  Jesus 
Christ  r 

Another  narative  may  not  be  here  out  of  place, 
nor  without  its  use.  Some  thirty  years  since  a 
young  man  commenced  the  study  of  Theology 
in  New  York.  Though  brought  up  in  our 
Church,  he  had  been  converted  to  Christ  by  the 
blessing  of  God  simply  upon  the  reading  of  the 
scriptures.  When  he  began  his  preparations  tor 
the  ministry,  it  was  without  the  least  idea  of  the 
state  of  things  in  the  Church.  He  scarcely 
thought  that  there  could  be  such  a  thing  as  an 
unconverted  professor  of  religion,  or  an  unrege- 
nerate  minister.  The  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God 
was  so  clear  to  his  mind  and  so  precious  to  his 
heart,  that  he  verily  supposed  that  all,  both  mi- 
nisters and  people,  who  named  the  name  of  Christ, 
saw  and  felt  as  he  did.  In  this  simple,  fervent 
state  of  mind — the  living  impress  of  God's  own 
word  devoutly  studied — he  commenced  his  the- 
ological course. 


HISTORY    OF    A    CANDIDATE.  67 

But  he  had  not  proceeded  far  before  he  disco- 
vered that  what  he  had  embraced  and  cherished 
in  the  very  depths  of  his  soul  as  the  truth  and 
grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  was.  in  the  eyes  of  his 
instructors,  a  thing  to  be  despised  and  abhorred, 
, — a  weak,  mischievous  fanaticism.  This  became 
daily  more  and  more  manifest  to  him  as  the 
Bishop  Hobart  theology  was  spread  out  to  his 
view,  and  he  was  led  through  its  unscriptural 
mazes.  He  was  at  first  astonished,  almost  stunned; 
he  supposed  that  he  must  misunderstand  his 
teachers.  But  they  soon  left  him  no  room  to 
doubt.  They  made  their  meaning  perfectly  clear. 
He  soon  rallied,  and  from  that  time  his  probation 
was  almost  one  continued  contest  with  what  was 
manifestly  '-another  Gospel." 

He  was  ordained.  But  before  this  it  was  too 
plain  that  he  must,  when  he  came  to  the  work  of 
the  ministry,  give  up  either  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus,"  or  the  friendship  of  his  teachers.  It  was 
a  painful  alternative.  On  many  accounts  he  felt 
attached  to  them,  but  by  the  grace  of  God  he  was 
enabled  to  hold  fast  to  "  the  faith."  And  many, 
very  many  are  the  prayers  he  has  since  poured 
out  for  them,  that  God  would  open  their  eyes  and 
change  their  hearts  before  it  be  too  late. 

Though  it  was  always  with  pain  he  alluded  to 


68  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

New  York  theology  and  the  state  of  things  there, 
yet  when  the  occasion  seemed  to  require  it  of  him, 
he  freely  expressed  his  convictions  and  fears; 
what  he  knew  was  the  fact,  and  what,  he  appre- 
hended, must  be  the  result.  When  placed  by 
Providence  in  the  control  of  a  religious  periodical, 
and  harshly  assailed  by  Bishop  Hobart,  he  felt  it 
his  solemn  duty  to  lay  bare  his  unscriptural  the- 
ology and  to  demonstrate,  as  he  believed,  that  Ro- 
manism must  be  the  fruits  of  such  churchmanship. 
In  a  conference,  on  a  most  important  occasion, 
some  twelve  years  since,  with  a  highly  esteemed 
brother,  now  living,  he  remarked — "^We  are  ab- 
proaching  a  dreadful  crisis.  The  cloud  may  ap- 
pear to  many  no  larger  than  a  man's  hand,  but 
soon  will  it  overspread  our  whole  ecclesiastical 
heavens  with  the  darkness  of  Popery  ?  My  only 
hope  is  that  when  the  hour  of  trial  does  come, 
there  will  be  found  among  us  truth  and  piety 
enough  to  be  aroused  into  such  an  energetic  reac- 
tion as  will  sweep  away  these  evils  for  ever." 
Scarcely  any,  however,  in  those  days  could  sym- 
pathize with  him  in  the  full  extent  of  his  fears, 
thouofh  all  acknowledofed  that  there  was  too  much 
ground  for  apprehension.  His  only  answer  was 
wont  to  be : — "  Well,  brethren,  time  will  reveal  the 


THE    CLOUD   AS   A    MAn's    HAND.  69 

whole  matter.  You  may  see,  sooner  than  I  fear, 
the  great  calamity  upon  us  !" 

The  black  vapors  which  he  then  saw  steaming 
up  from  the  infernal  pit,  have  now  diffused  them- 
selves far  and  wide  among  ns,  obscuring  the  light 
of  the  truth  in  our  own  borders,  and  bringing  a 
disastrous  eclipse  over  our  good  name  in  the  eyes 
of  all  about  us.  And  the  man,  who  for  many 
years  lifted  up  his  voice  almost  alone,  has  lived 
to  see  the  day  when  multitudes  in  different  parts 
of  the  Church  are  waking  up  to  a  sense  of  the  dan- 
ger ;  and  the  cry  of  alarm  is  heard  in  almost 
every  direction  ;  and  his  own  writings,  of  former 
times  are  sought  after  and  republished  by  others, 
not  merely  as  plain  testimonies  to  Gospel  truth, 
but  exact  predictions  of  the  terrible  evils  which 
were  then  before  us,  and  have  now  come  upon  us. 

To  sum  up  the  whole  matter.  Has  not  Church- 
is7n^  by  a  perfectly  natural  process,  produced 
Pa^cyism  ?  And  is  not  Puseijism  rapidly  running 
into  Rnman'sm  ?  And  for  all  these  deplorable 
evils,  the  legitimate  results  of  the  pride  and  blind- 
ness of  unrenewed  human  nature,  have  we  not, 
under  God's  blessino-,  a  plain,  but  sure  remedy  in 
Bible  views  of  the  Church  as  "  the  witness  and 
keeper  of  holy  writ," — the  servant  of  Christ  and 
of  men  for  Christ's  sake? 


70  CONDITION   AND   TROSPECTS    &C. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Satan  would,  if  possible,  keep  men  indifferent 
to  religion.  When  he  cannot  do  this,  and  the  sin- 
ner breaks  through  every  hindrance  and  comes 
to  Christ,  the  adversary,  though  baffled,  is  yet 
not  discouraged.  He  will  strive  to  win  the  soul 
back ;  or,  at  least,  retard  its  growth  in  light,  holi- 
ness, and  usefulness.  And,  alas,  how  great  has 
been  his  success  !  How  much  injury  has  he  done 
to  individuals  !  And  how  grievously  has  he  in 
the  same  way  marred  the  purity,  the  peace,  and 
the  efficiency  of  the  Church  ! 

The  devices  of  the  arch-enemy  are  subtle,  ever 
varying  and  innumerable.  But  we  must  here  limit 
our  attention  to  a  sinHe  one  ;  for  this  is  all  our 
present  occasion  requires  us  to  notice.  It  is  the 
particular  device  brought  to  view  by  the  search- 
ing rebuke  of  our  Lord  contained  in  Matt,  xxiii. 
23.  ''  Ye  pay  tithe  of  mint,  and  anise,  and  cum- 
min ;  and  have  omitted  the  weightier  matters  of 
the  law,  judgment,  mercy,  and  faith  :  these  ought 
ye  to  have  done,  and  not  to  leave  the  other  un- 
done."  Here  we  are  taught  that  while  the  smaller 


F0R3IALISM.  7 1 

matters  of  religion — its  forms,  proprieties,  and 
external  observances  generally,  ought  to  be  at- 
tended to,  its  vital  doctrines  and  moral  precepts 
should  yet  occupy  that  superior  place  in  our  re- 
gard to  which  their  paramount  importance  entitles 
them.  Both  are  indeed  duties.  The  consistently 
pious  man  will  neglect  neither. 

But  the  great  adversary  of  souls  knowing  the 
deep  depravity  of  our  nature  and  consequent 
aversion  to  the  duties  presented  by  the  holy  law 
of  God  and  the  purifying  truths  of  the  gospel — 
"Judgment,  mercy,  and  faith,"— and  knowing 
also  that  in  the  pride  and  blindness  of  our  hearts 
we  would  be  exceedingly  prone  to  self-righteous- 
ness ; —  he  artfully  endeavors  to  fix  our  minds 
upon  the  forms,  proprieties  and  external  observ- 
ances of  religion — the  "mint,  anise,  and  cummin," 
all  of  which  may  be  most  strictly  attended  to 
without  any  real  humiliation.  Thus  would  he 
furnish  us  with  an  easy  foundation  on  which  to 
build  a  righteousness  of  our  own,  and  in  this  way, 
too,  keep  us  entirely  off  from  that  spirituality  and 
holiness  of  character  which  make  up  true  piety. 
A  master  stroke  this  of  Satan's  policy  !  Few  de- 
vices has  he  ever  practiced  more  frequently,  or 
more  successfully.  It  was  the  very  snare  in 
which  he  had  caught  by  far  the  larger  part  of 


72  CONDITION   AND   PROSPECTS    &C. 

the  Church  at  the  time  of  our  Lord's  advent;  and 
against  which,  therefore,  on  very  many  occasions, 
we  hear  the  Savior  directing  his  clearest  and 
strongest  rebukes.  And  no  one  at  all  acquainted 
with  the  history  of  the  Church  needs  be  told 
how  much  she  has  always  suffered  from  this 
stratagem  of  her  great  enemy. 

Would  it  not,  therefore,  be  unwise  and  inex- 
cusable, in  searching  into  the  causes  which  have 
brought  our  wide-spread  calamity  upon  us,  to 
overlook  this  grand  device  of  our  spiritual  ad- 
versary ?  Has  he  practised  it  upon  us  ?  And  if 
so,  has  it  in  any  measure  laid  us  open  to  our 
present  dreadful  evils  ? 

We  have  said  that  an  attention  to  the  forms  of 
religion,  its  proprieties,  and  external  observances 
generally,  and  to  its  vital  doctrines  and  moral 
precepts  are  both  duties;  that  neither  is  to  be  ne- 
glected. Now  in  respect  to  the  first  class,  are  we 
not  conspicuous  for  our  carefulness?  Certainly 
none  will  deny  us  this  character.  We  have  a 
minute  and  very  extensive  code  of  legislation  for 
externals,  and  so  attentive  are  we  to  its  ob- 
servance that  it  has  rendered  us,  as  a  Church, 
altogether  peculiar.  Hence,  while  it  would  be 
very  possible  in  most  other  Protestant  denomina- 
tions, to  be  present  on  an  occasion  of  public  wor- 


JUSTIFICATIOX    BY    FAITH.  73 

ship  without  being  sensible  in  what  particular 
church  we  were,  whether  Congregational,  Baptist 
or  Presbyterian,  in  any  of  its  very  numerous  sub- 
divisions, it  would  be  altogether  impossible  to 
confound  any  of  these  with  an  Episcopal  Church, 
so  strikingly  peculiar  are  we.  Our  many  rules 
and  punctilious  observance  of  them,  keep  us  in- 
tirely  distinct.  Seldom,  very  seldom,  do  our 
most  zealous  sticklers  for  Rubrics  and  other  cere- 
monial laws  complain  of  any  observed  laxity,  or 
want  of  conformity,  and  still  less  frequently  is 
there  any  real  ground  for  such  complaints.  Well 
were  it  with  us,  could  we  as  successfully  endure 
a  scrutiny  by  the  second  class  of  requirements. 

Have  we,  then,  been  as  careful  in  respect  to  the 
vital  doctrines  and  moral  precepts  of  the  Gospel 
as  we  confessedly  are  in  all  that  concerns  Rubrics 
and  other  ceremonial  laws  ?  Do  we,  for  example, 
hold  up  with  great  plainness,  clearness,  and  ful- 
ness, in  all  our  teachings,  both  in  the  pulpit  and 
from  the  press,  the  great  Bible  doctrine  of  justifi- 
cation by  faith  only  ?  Would  that  this  were  the 
case  !  But  the  writer  would  be  unfaithful  to  all 
his  observations  and  convictions,  were  he  not  to 
express  his  fears  that  we  have  come  far,  very  far, 
short^of  our  duty  in  this  matter.  The  true  me- 
thod of  justification  is  so  important,  that  not  only 
7 


74  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

ought  it  to  be  frequently  taken  up  by  itself  and 
preached  upon,  but  in  every  discourse  it  should 
be  plainly  implied.  It  is  not  sufficient  that  no- 
thing appear  contrary  to  it,  but  every  thing  said 
should  be,  to  any  hearer  of  the  least  reflection,  so 
obviously  consistent  with  it,  and  so  suggestive  of 
it,  that  he  could  receive  nothing  from  the  dis- 
course without  perceiving  that  he  must  also  assent 
to  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  only.  In 
a  word,  no  hearer  should  be  permitted  to  go  away, 
without  wilful  blindness  on  his  part,  in  igno- 
rance of  this  fundamental  truth  of  the  Gospel. 

And  yet  have  we  never  heard  this  doctrine 
positively  denied  from  the  pulpit? — and  more 
often  so  obscured  and  mystified  by  being  mingled 
up  with  the  works  of  the  law  and  sacramental 
observances,  as  to  convey  quite  other  impressions 
than  those  of  God's  word,  to  the  mind?  Who, 
that  loves  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  has  not  been 
very  often  grieved  to  see  such  unsound  teachings 
sent  out  from  the  press?  But  when  and  where 
has  a  godly  discipline  ever  been  brought  to  bear 
upon  them? 

One  fact  we  will  here  mention  which  occurred 
some  years  since,  and  which  affords  additional 
and  most  sad  evidence  of  our  want  of  fidelity  in 
respect  to  this  great  scriptural  doctrine.  A  young 


THE    IXQiriRI^G    CANDIDATE.  75 

man  connected  with  one  of  our  Theological 
Seminaries,  wrote  to  an  Evangelical  minister,  a 
rector  of  a  city  parish,  frankly  and  very  earnestly 
requesting  of  him  to  state  what  was  the  scriptu- 
ral doctrine  of  justification  ;  and  added  that  a 
compliance  with  this  request  would,  he  hoped, 
greatly  benefit  himself  and  not  a  few  others. 
Alas,  thought  the  minister,  and  is  it  so  in  our 
schools  of  the  Prophets !  What  must  be  the  state 
of  our  Church! 

Thus  far  had  the  writer  proceeded  when  a 
pamphlet  reached  him  by  mail,  announcing 
another  Carey  Ordination, — or  rather  worse; 
the  dark  indications  o{  that  having  been  hopefully 
relieved  by  public,  solemn,  manly  protest,  but 
this^  it  seems,  was  suffered  to  pass  off  with  only  a 
secret  shake  of  the  head!  How  long,  at  this  rate, 
before  as  a  Church,  we  "shall  die  without  a  sign?'''' 
AVhat  are  we  coming  to?  Can  such  things  be 
much  longer  endured?  If  a  godly  discipline  can- 
not reach  the  evil  and  prevent  its  recurrence, 
very  soon  must  the  whole  body  of  the  Church 
become  utterly  and  hopelessly  corrupt.  Certain- 
ly it  would  seem  that  an  awful  crisis  is  rapidly 
approaching,  when  the  sound  must  separate  from 
the  unsound,  or  all  perish  together. 

It  would  seem  that  in  this  case  the  great  truth 


76  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS   &C. 

of  the  Gospel  and  the  ^rand  distinctive  principle 
of  Protestantism,  the  doctrine  of  justification  by- 
faith  only,  (a  doctrine,  be  it  noted,  against  which 
the  Fathers  of  Trent  directed  the  utmost  efforts 
of  their  art  and  strength,)  this  great  doctrine  of 
the  Bible  and  Protestantism,  was  positively  and 
unequivocally  denied  by  the  candidate,  and  he  a 
deacon  applying  for  presbyter's  orders.  After  re- 
peated interviews  and  long  discussions  with  him 
by  one  of  the  examiners,  the  author  of  the  state- 
ment, he  persisted  in  his  denial.  The  Bishop, 
notwithstanding,  determined  to  ordain,  and  car- 
ried out  his  decision.  No  protest,  public  or 
private,  was  made !  The  reverend  author  of  the 
statement  gives  us  to  understand  that  he  sup- 
posed he  did  his  duty  in  this  unexpected  and 
most  painful  position,  by  simply  giving  a  secret 
sign  of  refusal  to  lay  his  hand  upon  the  candidate's 
head  ;  and  he  seems,  in  part  at  least,  to  have  satis- 
fied himself  that  this  was  all  he  was  called  to  do 
by  having  previously  discovered  to  his  great  sur- 
prise and  regret,  that  neither  did  the  Bishop 
himself  believe  that  we  were  '^completely  justi- 
fied by  faith."  But  so  far  from  making  a  public 
objection  unnecessary,  was  not  this  fact  an  addi- 
tional and  vastly  sorer  evil,  and  a  most  emphatic 
call  for  solemn  protest  before  God  and  his  people? 


BISHOP — DENIES    JUSTIFICATION   BY    FAITH.         /  / 

Why,  did  it  not  show  that  the  present  instance 
was  not  the  result  merely  of  misunderstanding? 
That  it  was  knowingly  and  wilfully  brought 
about?  And  that  there  was  no  reason,  therefore, 
to  suppose  that  it  would  be  the  last?  Nay,  that 
we  might  look  for  just  such  outrages  upon  our 
Protestant  Church  whenever  such  candidates 
chose  to  present  themselves?  Surely,  if  ever 
there  was  an  occasion  when  the  voice  of  re- 
monstrance should  have  been  lifted  up  louder 
than  seven  thunders,  it  was  then.  Nothing  but 
such  hurricane  blasts  will  be  likely  to  clear  our 
ecclesiastical  atmosphere  of  that  creeping  miasma 
which  has  already  proved  fatal  to  so  many  in 
high  places  and  low.  Said  the  Bishop  to  the 
reverend  author  of  the  Expose,  "you  ought  to 
have  concurred  in  the  ordination,  or  publicly  ob- 
jected to  it  at  the  time  !"  And  so  say  we ;  far,  in  the 
language  of  the  Expose,  it  was  a  ^^vitaF  matter, 
— the  difference  between  the  parties  was  '■'radical^ 
fundamental^^'' — if  the  one  held  precious  gospel 
truth,  the  other  was  in  fatal  errror. 

Another  essential  truth  of  the  Gospel,  is  the 
doctrine  of  the  Regeneration,  or  the  new  birth,  or, 
as  it  is  commonly  called,  a  change  of  heart.  Have 
then  the  nature,  the  necessity,  and  the  evidences 
of  a  change  of  heart  been  so  clearly,  fully,  and 

7* 


78  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

solemnly  set  before  our  people,  that  there  is  no 
possibility  of  any  considerable  number  of  them, 
of  ordinary  sense  and  candor,  remaining  in  error 
or  in  ignorance  respecting  it?  Or,  has  the  subject 
of  Reojeneration  been  too  often  altoofether  identi- 
fied  with  Baptism,  or  at  least  so  mingled  up  with 
it  as  to  bring  over  the  mind  of  the  hearer  such  a 
dark  cloud  of  superstition  as  eifectually  to  shut 
out  the  light  of  truth  from  him,  both  in  respect  to 
the  ordinance  itself,  and  to  that  holy  change  of 
heart  of  which  it  is  a  symbol  or  representation  ? 
Whatever  be  the  cause,  it  is  certainly  the  fact 
that  there  are  those  in  almost  every  part  of  our 
Church,  who  regard  every  pretension  to  a  change 
of  heart  or  conversion  as  the  vile  cant  of  hypo- 
crisy, or  the  driveling  of  a  weak  though  honest 
fanaticism.  It  is  not  long  since  we  read  a  printed 
communication  from  the  lay  officers  of  one  of  our 
parishes,  insinuating  a  charge  of  error  against 
their  Bishop,  and  an  untimely  zeal,  and  a  cruel 
disresfard  to  the  feelinofs  of  their  candidates  for 
confirmation,  because,  forsooth,  he  very  plainly 
and  solemnly  urged  upon  these  baptized  persons, 
then  before  him,  the  subject  of  spiritual  regenera- 
tion, or  that  holy  change  of  character  without 
which  none  can  see  the  Lord  !  How  must  such 
a  people  have  been  instructed?     And  what  must 


A    FAITHFUL    BISHOP    REBUKED.  79 

be  the  character  and  influence  of  a  religions  peri- 
odical which  would  notice  and  commend  such  an 
attack  upon  ministerial  fidelity  ? 

And  how  is  it,  also,  with  us  in  respect  to  the 
moral  precepts  of  the  Gospel  ?  Have  these  been 
inculcated  throughout  our  borders  with  Scriptural 
plainness  and  fulness  ?  And  in  consequence  of 
this  fidelity  have  our  communicants  generally 
been  men  "diligent  in  business,  fervent  in  spirit 
serving  the  Lord;"  ''owing  no  man  any  thing, 
but  to  love  one  another ;"  though  in  the  world, 
yet  living  above  the  world;  ordering  their  house- 
holds with  prayer  and  godly  discipline ; — in  a 
word,  exemplary  in  all  relative  duties  ?  And  has 
the  administration  of  discipline  among  us  been 
such  as  to  reform  or  put  away  unworthy  minis- 
ters and  communicants?  Or  are  our  altars  too 
often  thronged  with  the  lovers  of  pleasure,  more 
than  lovers  of  God ; — with  parents  without  family 
altars;  with  men  of  lax  views  and  still  more  lax 
practice  in  business  transactions,  who  show  no 
conscientious  sense  of  the  obligation  of  debt 
where  they  can  find  the  sheher  of  law  against  its 
claims?  And  have  our  Ecclesiastical  authorities 
either  not  noticed  at  all,  or,  at  the  most,  inflicted 
such  slight  and  temporary  punishments  upon 
transgressors,  clerical  and  lay,  as  seemed  but  a 


80  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

mere  mockery  of  justice?  In  one  instance  it  was 
remarked  by  a  merchant  to  a  member  of  an 
ecclesiastical  coiirt  which  had  just  decided  upon 
a  case: — "  Well,  you  have  acquitted  him.  Had 
any  one  among  us  been  guilty  of  such  conduct, 

we   would  have   been off  of  change !"     In 

another  case,  the  offender  after  having  been  con- 
victed of  lewd  practices, — such  as  any  faithful 
pastor  would  have  thought  abundantly  sufficient 
grounds  on  which  to  excommunicate  a  layman, 
— the  offender  was  still  left  in  the  ministry,  and 
merely  suspended  from  the  exercise  of  its  func- 
tions. 

If  any  thing  could  add  to  the  dark  features  of 
such  a  case,  it  is  the  fact  that  the  Church  after- 
wards, as  we  learn  from  the  public  prints,  voted 
him  a  pension — perhaps  for  life!  If  this  was  not, 
in  effect  holding  out  a  premium  for  wickedness, 
it  would  be  difficult  to  say  what  is.  We  have 
never  yet  met  with  a  simple-hearted,  pious  man, 
or  even  a  pure-minded  worldly  one  who  could 
take  any  other  view  of  it.  How  then  do  we  ap- 
pear, as  a  Church,  in  the  light  of  our  Lord's  search- 
ing rebuke  ?  "Ye  pay  tithe  of  mint,  and  anise,  and 
cummin,  and  have  omitted  the  v/eightier  matters 
of  the  law,  judgment,  mercy  and  faith?"  Have 
we  been  as  careful  and  zealous  in  respect  to  the 


THE  CONGENIAL  ATMOSPHERE  OF  POPERY.  81 

vital  doctrines  and  moral  precepts  of  the  Gospel, 
as  we  are  about  Rubrics  and  Canons?  As  much 
concerned  for  the  life  and  substance  of  religion,  as 
for  its  forms?  If  we  have  not,  what  marvel  is  it 
that  Romanism  has  come  in  like  a  flood  upon  us? 
That  the  views  and  practices  growing  out  of  such 
a  want  of  fidelity  to  the  Gospel  are  entirely  con- 
genial with  Popery, — the  very  state  of  things  it 
desires;  and  indeed  that  this  poisonous  exotic 
could  not  flourish,  or  even  live  in  any  other  at- 
mosphere, must  be  manifest  to  every  intelligent, 
pious  mind.  Only  let  the  Scriptural  doctrines  of 
Justification  by  Faith  only,  and  a  holy  change  of 
heart  by  the  Spirit  of  God — to  saynothing  of  other 
vital  doctrines  of  the  Bible — only  let  these  truths 
be  generally  and  faithfully  preached  throughout  the 
Romish  Church,  and  an  evangelical  morality  be 
enjoined  by  its  disipline, — and  how  long  could 
the  Papal  Anti-Christ  stand?  Here  and  there,  it  is 
to  be  hoped,  that  some  among  them  might  be  found 
to  endure  the  Scriptural  test;  and  others  would 
doubtless,  by  God's  blessing,  open  their  hearts  in 
honest  and  glad  submission  to  its  requirements; 
but  the  multitude  would  be  speedily  dispersed  like 
chafl"  from  the  summer's  threshing  floor.  Rome 
would  be  regenerated,  or  destroyed  by  such  a  pro- 


82  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

cess : — she  would,  in  the  one  way  or  the  other, 
cease  to  be  Rome. 

They,  therefore,  who  have  kept  out  of  view,  or 
corrupted  the  great  Scriptural  doctrines  of  Justifi- 
cation by  Faith  only,  and  Regeneration  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  and  the  moral  precepts  growing 
out  of  these,  have  not  merely  prepared  the  way 
for  Popery,  but  in  truth  they  have  laid  its  sure 
foundations,  and  already  is  the  edifice  going  up, 
and  soon  will  it  rear  its  proud  turrets  to  the  very 
heavens,  and  exhibit,  inside  and  out,  all  that  is 
cunning  and  gorgeous  to  captivate  the  senses,  and 
enslave  the  souls  and  bodies  of  men. 

Would  we  then  escape  our  present  calamity  7 
Let  us  "earnestly  contend  for  the  faith  once  de- 
livered to  the  saints;" — let  us  hold  fast  with  an 
honesty  and  a  vigilence,  which  cannot  be  de- 
ceived, and  admits  no  compromise — "the  holy, 
just,  and  good  commandment ,"  that  law  which 
rebukes  alike  the  sins  of  the  ministry,  and  the 
people, — which  weighs  with  the  same  divine  and 
perfect  justice  both  the  doings  of  eclesiastical  bo- 
dies and  the  conduct  of  individuals.  A  course  so 
Scripturally  wise  and  decidedly  Christian  must, 
with  God's  blessing,  bring  to  repentance,  or,  if 
needs  be,  put  off  that  Romish  development, 
which,  with  shameless  front  denies  the  very  doc- 


DISHONESTY  OF  PUSEYISM.  83 

trines  it  has  sworn  to  support;  apes  those  fooleries 
it  is  bound  to  reject,  and  reviles  that  glorious  Re- 
formation which  it  is  pledged,  before  God  and 
man,  to  honor  and  uphold. 


84  CONDITION  AND  PROSPECTS  &C.  * 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

To  have  any  other  object  of  supreme  regard 
than  the  true  God,  is  to  be  guilty  of  idolatry.  This 
regard  may  be  manifested  in  very  diiferent  ways, 
and  the  objects  of  it  may  be  as  countless  as  the 
creatures  God  has  made,  and  the  imaginations 
and  desires  of  man's  heart.  It  may  be  "the 
kissing  of  the  hand  to  the  sun  when  it  shineth,  or 
to  the  moon  walking  in  brightness," — a  very  an- 
cient form  of  idolatry  ;  or  we  may  come  down  to 
the  earth,  and  deify  the  hills  and  the  valleys,  the 
groves  and  the  fountains ;  or  we  may  render 
divine  honors  to  fire,  to  the  winds,  or  to  animals 
and  vegetables,  even  the  most  trivial,  as  the 
learned  Egyptians  did  to  cats  and  leeks.  One  step 
lower  in  this  humiliating  abyss,  and  we  have 
done, — the  enlightened  Greeks  and  Romans  dei- 
fied some  of  our  very  infirmities,  diseases,  and 
baser  passions,  as  paleness,  fever,  fear,  wanton- 
ness, (fcc. 

When  one  contemplates  the  idolatry  of  the 
heathen,  ancient  and  modern,  it  is  hard  to  say 
which  most  painfully  impresses  us,  its  folly  or  its 


F0R3IS  OF  IDOLATRY,  85 

wickedaess.  And  the  classical  student  who, 
while  admiring  the  genius  of  the  great  writers  of 
antiquity,  has  often  shrunk  back  with  horror  and 
disgust  at  the  scenes  they  unfold,  cannot  but  be 
struck  with  the  perfect  delicacy  with  which,  with- 
out at  all  sacrificing  his  fidelity,  the  Apostle  Paul, 
in  the  opening  of  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  por- 
trays the  idolatry  of  the  Gentiles  and  its  darkly 
clustering  vices. 

But  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  because  in  a 
large  part  of  the  earth  the  preaching  of  the  Gos- 
pel has  cast  out  the  idols  of  wood,  and  stone, 
and  other  such  forms  of  heathenism — that  idola- 
try has  there  come  to  an  end.  By  no  means.  If 
idolatry  is  the  exercise  of  supreme  regard  for  any 
other  object  than  the  true  God,  how  manifest  is  it 
that  the  heart  itself  may  become  an  idol  temple,  in 
which  worship  is  daily  oflfered  at  the  shrine  of 
pride,  covetousness,  sensuality,  ambition,  or  some 
other  corrupt  affection.  This  is  as  really  idolatry 
as  was  ever  exhibited  in  the  Pantheon,  and  as 
such  we  are  solemnly  warned  against  it  in  the 
word  of  God.  Neither  are  we  at  liberty  to  sup- 
pose that  idolatry  has  always  been  confined  to  the 
world, — that  it  has  never  entered  into  the  Church 
of  God.  Far  from  this.  Idolatry  is  the  2frand, 
besetting  sin  of  fallen  human  nature.  Hence  the 
8 


86  CONDITION  AND  PROSPECTS  &C. 

many  delineations  of  this  sin,  and  the  almost  in- 
numerable prohibitions,  warnings,  and  threaten- 
insfs  aofainst  it,  and  the  varied  and  affectinof  exhibi- 
tions  of  its  miserable  results,  to  be  met  with  on  the 
pages  of  the  Old  Testament.  Every  attentive 
reader  of  the  Bible  knows  that  these  make  up  no 
inconsiderable  part  of  that  portion  of  the  inspired 
volume.  It  is  needless,  therefore,  to  quote  any 
particular  passages. 

But,  what  is  still  more  painful  and  humiliating, 
even  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  such  is  the  deep 
depravity  of  human  nature,  has  not  always  been 
a  sufficient  barrier  against  idolatry.  The  Apostles 
had  scarcely  been  called  from  their  labors  to  their 
reward,  before  we  find  many  idolatrous  joractices 
creeping  into  the  Christian  Church.  Many  plain 
and  solemn  warnings  against  these,  had  indeed 
been  left  by  the  sacred  penmen  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. And  yet  the  evil  continued  to  grow  and 
strengthen  till  it  reached  that,  fulness  of  develop- 
ment usually  termed  the  Grand  Apostacy.  Rome 
became  little  more  than  baptized  heathenism. 
Hence  it  was  impossible  to  reform  it.  It  might  be 
destroyed,  but  not  reformed.  They,  therefore,  who 
would  escape  its  evils,  must  reform/ro??z  it.  "  Come 
out  of  her,  my  people,  that  ye  be  not  partakers  of 
her  sins,  and  that  ye  receive  not  of  her  plagues,"— 


PAPAL   IDOLATRY.  87 

was  the  Divine  injiiiiction.  And  this  is  just  what 
Luther,  Cranmer,  and  Calvin  did.  They  could 
not  reform  Rome,  and  therefore  they  reformed 
from  her. 

But  alas!  sin  is  not  so  easily  got  rid  of,  and 
especially  this  inveterate  sin  of  idolatry.  Has 
even  the  Reformation  completely  excluded  it  from 
the  Protestant  Churches?  It  requires  but  little  ac- 
quaintance with  their  history  to  compel  us  to  an- 
swer this  question  in  the  neo^ative.  We  have  all, 
at  times,  shown  ourselves  more  or  less  infected 
with  the  sin  of  idolatry.  But  in  this  evil,  as  in 
that  of  persecution,  we  Protestants  have  one  great 
advantao^e.  It  is  that  our  relisfion  forbids  both. 
If  we  give  in  to  any  form  of  idolatry,  or  if  we  ever 
persecute,  we  act  in  the  very  teeth  of  our  professed 
principles ;  and,  therefore,  there  is  always  hope 
that  we  may  be  brought  to  seethe  error  of  our 
ways,  and  forsake  it.  But  the  consistent  Papist 
is  a  conscientious  idolater,  a  conscientious  per- 
secutor, an  idolater  and  a  persecutor  upon  prin- 
ciple; and  therefore  he  will  have  his  idols,  he  will 
persecute  whenever  he  has  the  power.  There  is 
no  hope  of  him  till  he  ceases  to  be  a  Papist. 

Since,  then,  idolatry  is  the  great  "besetting  sin' ' 
of  human  nature,  so  that  whenever  nations  have, 
in  the  holy,  but  inscrutable  providence  of  God, 


88  CONDITION  AND  PROSPECTS  &C. 

been  left  to  themselves,  they  have  invariably  run 
into  idolatry;  and  since  the  tendency  to  this  sin  is 
so  strong  that  the  presence  of  true  religion  cannot 
prevent  its  reigning  in  the  world,  and  even  in- 
truding itself  into  the  Church, — is  it  wise,  is  it 
safe,  for  any  body  of  professed  Christians  to  sup- 
pose themselves  entirely  exempt  fro-Ti  it? — Cer- 
tainly our  only  security  here,  as  a  Church,  is  in 
never-ceasing  watchfulness,  and  close,  faithful 
self  examination.  If  the  first  approach  .of  the  en- 
emy call  not  forth  a  note  of  honest  alarm,  it  will 
become,  at  every  step,  more  and  more  difficult  to 
make  effectual  resistance. 

We  propose  in  this  essay  to  confine  our  remarks 
to  three  particular  subjects  of  inquiry,  which  have 
engaged  much  attention  among  us.  Have  we 
been  betrayed  into  idolatry  in  respect  to  these? 

1.  The  Church.  Is  there  nothing  like  idol- 
atry of  the  Church  among  us? 

The  true  scriptural  character  and  position  of 
the  Church  is  that  of  "  a  witness  and  a  keeper  of 
holy  writ."  Her  voice  is  therefore  to  be  rever- 
ently attended  to.  The  Bible  is  perfectly  clear 
on  this  point,  and  all  the  best  feelings  of  the 
Christian's  heart  are  in  unison  with  its  teachings. 
He  regards  the  testimony  of  the  Church,  there- 
fore, as  prima  facie  eY\diQnQ.Q  of  truth;  and  in  re- 


THE  IDOLATRY  OF  THE  CHURCH.  89 

spect  to  things  really  indifferent  he  considers  it 
wise  and  proper  ordinarily  to  walk  "  by  the  foot- 
steps of  the  flock.'' 

Still  he  acknowledges  no  sovereign  authority 
in  the  Church,  no  right  of  her  own  to  bind  men's 
consciences.  Just  so  far  as  the  Church  follows 
Christ,  will  the  Christian  feel  himself  under  obli- 
gation to  follow  her.  Should  she  be  found,  after 
careful  inquiry,  to  come  into  conflict  on  any  point 
with  the  Bible,  the  great  fundamental  law  of  God's 
household,  the  Christian  must  consider  her  un- 
faithful to  her  high  trust  as  "a  witness  and  a  keep- 
er of  holy  writ."  In  all  such  cases  his  allegiance 
to  his  only  sovereign  head,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
requires  the  believer  to  follow  Him  in  preference 
to  the  Church.  Not  to  do  this,  would  be  to  act 
the  part  of  a  traitor  to  his  divine  Master;  and  the 
whole  Church,  the  Christian  knows,  would  be 
utterly  powerless  to  save  him  in  the  last  day  from 
the  terrible  consequences  of  such  conduct. 

So  long  as  it  is  written,  "  Every  one  of  us  shall 
give  an  account  of  himself  to  God — To  his  own 
Master  he  standeth  or  falleth," — it  is  equally  the 
right  and  the  duty  of  every  one  to  read  *'  the  law 
of  the  Lord,"  and  judge  for  himself  It  follows, 
therefore,  that  all  creeds,  confessions  of  faith,  and 
laws  of  the  Church,  derive  their  whole  binding 

8* 


90  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

authority  from  Christ;  and,  if  they  are  not  accord- 
ing to  his  mind,  they  have  no  authority  what- 
ever; they  are  to  be  resisted,  as  we  vahie  his  favor 
to  whom  alone  we  owe  allegiance,  and  before 
whom  each  one  must  at  last  stand  in  judgment. 
Such  is,  we  believe,  the  clear,  simple  teaching 
of  God's  word  on  this  important  point.  And  in 
exact  accordance  with  it  is  the  lanofuao;e  of  the 
Sixth  Article  of  our  Church, — ''  Whatsoever  is  not 
read  in  Holy  Scripture,  nor  may  be  proved  there- 
by, is  not  to  be  required  of  any,  that  it  should  be 
believed  as  an  article  of  faith,  or  be  thought  requi- 
site or  necessary  unto  salvation,'^  Surely  it  is  of 
the  greatest  importance  to  have  clear,  scriptural 
views  of  this  point,  and  a  mind  well  settled  upon 
it,  if  we  would  not  be  betrayed  into  apostacy  from 
Christ,  and  become  the  victims  of  an  idolatry  as 
debasing  as  it  is  crushing.  But  yet  is  it  not  the 
fact  that  too  many  among  us  often  speak  and  act 
as  though  the  Church  really  had  sovereign  au- 
thority in  all  matters  of  faith  and  practice? — They 
seem  to  think  that  they  have  given  sufficient 
proof  of  a  point  when  they  have  shown,  or  rather 
asserted,  that  the  Church  maintains  it;  and  that  to 
seek  any  farther,  is  presumption;  that  all  are 
bound  to  acquiesce  without  question  or  hesitation 


THE  IDOLATRY  OF-THE  CHURCH.  91 

in  these  assumed  teachings  of  the  Church;  and 
should  any  dare,  however  respectfully,  to  look 
for  higher  authority, — they  are  at  once  branded 
as — no  Churchmen  I  We  take  but  a  single  spe- 
cimen of  this  sort  of  idol  worship  from  a  single 
discourse  of  a  distinguished  divine  of  our  Church, 
one  whom  a  large  class  among  us  acknowledge 
and  glory  in  as  their  representative  and  leader, — • 
or  rather,  as  the  oracle  of  the  Church.  "The 
Church  provides^ — the  Church  prevents, — the 
Church  regulates, — the  Church  guides, — the 
Church  justifies, — theChurch /or//]^^^,  (fcc. " — ^and 
all  this  glorification  of  the  Church  in  the  space  of 
only  twenty-two  consecutive  lines!  Great  is 
Diana  of  the  Ephesians  !  And,  be  it  specially  no- 
ticed, that  these  aWeged^^prescj-iptions,^^  of  the 
Church  are  all,  forsooth,  so  many  arguments  for 
a  more  than  half  popish  theology,  and  a  system  of 
churchmanship  utterly  at  war  with  the  doctrines 
of  grace  and  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath 
made  his  people  free. 

Such  teachers  first  assert  that  the  Church  says 
so  and  so;  or,  what  is  in  their  eyes  the  same  thing, 
that  certain  favorite  authors  whom  they  set  up  as 
mouth  pieces  of  the  Church  do  ;  and  then,  forth- 
with, require  that  all  bow  down  to  this  authority 
"with  a  submission  that  knows  no  limits."     The 


92  CONDITIOIN  AND  PROSPECTS  &C. 

man  who  dares,  however  humbly  and  conscien- 
tious! 3^,  to  appeal  to  the  Bible,  does  so  under  the 
ban  of  these  self-constituted  oracles  of  the  Church. 
He  is  pronounced  henceforth  no  Churchman. 
And  let  not  any  suppose  that  this  ban  is  mere  hru- 
tumfulmen.  Far  from  this.  So  tremendous  is  its 
influence,  that  when  it  does  not  altogether  silence, 
as  it  generally  does,  it  rarely  fails  to  reduce  to  the 
most  timid,  ineffective  whisper.  And  thus  have 
very  many  among  us  sunk  down  into  mere  ab- 
jects,  ecclesiastical  tools,  solemn  echoes  of  some 
chief  priest  of  the  idol. 

11.  The  PRAYER-Book.  Have  we  no  idolatry 
of  the  Prayer-Book  to  confess  ?  The  writer  is 
very  far  from  being  insensible  to  the  great  value 
of  this  little  volume.  He  was  baptized  in  its 
words.  Often  since,  as  he  trusts,  has  he  wept  in 
penitent  gratitude  under  its  ordinary  ministra- 
tions in  the  Sanctuary,  and,  times  without  num- 
ber, devoted  himself  to  God  in  its  solemn  offices 
at  the  table  of  the  Lord.  He  has  thus  lived  under 
its  influence  in  joy  and  in  sorrow,  in  sickness 
and  in  health,  through  a  life  now  drawn  out  be- 
yond its  meridian  ;  and  looks  forward  to  the  day, 
not  far  distant,  when  his  grave  shall  be  blessed  in 
its  words,  so  full  of  light,  and  hope,  and  holy 


IDOL^VTRY  OF  THE  PRAYER-BOOK.  93 

comfort.  This  much  is  said  in  justice  to  his  po- 
sition and  feelings. 

Stillj  with  all  his  attachment  to  the  Liturgy,  he 
cannot,  as  he  fears  too  many  do,  fall  down  and 
worship  the  book.  It  is  man's  work,  and  there- 
fore imperfect.  He  sees  not  many,  indeed,  but 
certainly  some  very  serious  defects  in  this  vener- 
able volume — permitted,  perhaps,  as  in  the  case 
of  Patriarchs,  Prophets,  and  Apostles,  and  the 
Church  itself,  hs  a  providential  warning  against 
superstitious  reverence  for  a  creature,  and  a  re- 
buke to  those  who  might  be  betrayed  into  such 
idolatry. 

But  who  cannot  see  evidence  of  this  idolatry 
of  the  Prayer-Book  in  that  language  of  unmin- 
gled,  indiscriminate,  extravagant  eulogy  so  often 
poured  out  upon  it? — in  the  continual  refusal, 
even  by  those  who  have  confessed  its  defects,  to 
put  forth  the  hand  of  reform,  however  conscien- 
tiously and  reverently  urged? — and  above  all,  in 
the  frequent  attempts  and  systematic  efforts  to 
limit 'even  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel*,  and  the 
circulation  of  God's  word,  by  the  wiUingness  of 
the  destitute  to  receive  the  Prayer-Book  ?  Surely 
such  exaltation  of  our  own  work,  and  virtually  of 
ourselves,  must  be  highly  offensive  to  Him,  who 
hath  said  that  He  will  not  give  his  glory  to  an- 


94  CONDITION  AND  PROSPECTS  &C. 

Other.  Either,  then,  we  must  renounce  this  idol- 
atry, put  this  obstacle  out  of  the  way  of  God's 
cause,  or  He  will  be  provoked  to  say,  "Ephraim 
is  joined  to  his  idols,  let  him  alone!" 

III.  Episcopacy.  How  is  it  here?  That  we 
have  run  into  the  sin  of  idolatry  in  this  matter,  is 
beginning  to  be  so  obvious  to  every  unprejudiced 
mind  of  ordinary  discernment,  and  the  least  seri- 
ous feeling,  that  it  needs  neither  arguments  nor 
instances  to  prove  it.  Some  have  spoken  of  it  in 
sorrow,  and  some  in  sarcasm ;  and  yet  has  not 
the  evil  gone  on  with  giant  strides?  But  of  all 
the  forms  of  idolatry  is  not  this  the  one  which 
admits  of  least  excuse  ?  The  antiquity  of  the 
Church,  its  blessings  to  the  world,  its  martyrs, 
confessors,  and  holy  men,  its  labors  and  perils  for 
Christ ;  the  general  evangelical  soundness  of  the 
Prayer-book,  its  meek,  calm,  devout  spirit,  breath- 
ed on  almost  every  page,  its  venerable  compilers 
sealing  their  testimony  with  their  own  blood: — 
all  these,  though  they  form  no  justification  for 
worshipping  the  Church  or  the  Prayer-Book,  are 
■yet  adapted  to  inspire  a  reverence  so  strong,  that 
it  would  not  be  wonderful  were  this  reverence 
occasionally  to  run  into  a  superstitious,  idolatrous 
veneration. 

But  with  one  given  to  his  cups,  another  wal- 


FOLLY  OF  EPISCOPAL  IDOLATRY,  95 

lowing  in  filthy  wickedness,  and  others,  again, 
advancing  doctrines  and  pursuing  measures  so 
opposite  to  the  Gospel  of  the  Grace  of  God,  and 
subversive  of  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath 
made  his  people  free  ; — how  could  any  one,  with 
such  miserable  spectacles  of  immoral,  heretical, 
and  self-arrogating  Bishops,  before  his  eyes,  fall 
down  and  worship  Episcopacy?  (Questions  so 
plain  it  might  be  neither  wise  nor  proper  to  pro- 
mulge,  were  not  the  facts  themselves  so  notorious 
and  did  not  the  awful  crisis  at  which  our  Church 
has  arrived,  demand  ''plain  speaking."  Nothing 
but  close,  faithful  self-examination  as  a  Church, 
and  an  out-spoken  honesty  can  now  save  us.  Verily 
these  are  the  times  that  try  our  professed  love  for 
the  Church.  A  true  attachment  will  enable  us 
to  rise  above  every  thought  of  personal  ease  and 
selfish  interests,  and  inspire  us  with  a  spirit  alike 
frank  and  fearless,  solemn  and  kind-hearted.  Is 
it  asked  what  has  produced  this  idolatry  of  Epis- 
copacy ?  Some  of  the  causes  of  it  are  as  manifest 
as  they  are  painfully  humiliating;  others,  again,  are 
more  obscure,  but  equally  certain  in  their  results. 
In  the  Church,  as  in  most  other  of  life's  social 
positions,  it  requires  but  very  little  sagacity  to 
discover  "  the  thrift  of  fawninij. "  "  To  nosle 
about  the  knees  of  power,  "  is  a  much  easier,  and 


96  CONDITION   AND   PROSPECTS    &C. 

as  things  unhappily  now  are,  a  much  surer  way 
to  reach  the  high  and  desirable  places  of  the 
Church,  than  to  gain  these  by  labor,  study,  and 
ministerial  fidelity.  AH  this  is  perfectly  clear. 
Hence,  even  where  the  ability  for  the  latter  effort 
is  possessed,  recourse  is  too  often  had  to  the 
former  means.  Hence,  also,  we  have  so  many  ex- 
ceedingly small  men  in  our  high  places.  They 
exalted  the  Bishop,  and  the  Bishop  exalted  them; 
a  process,  this,  which  throws  no  little  light  upon 
the  progress  of  Episcopal  idolatry. 

Again,  there  are  a  large  class  who,  though  not 
ambitious,  are  yet  very  fond  of  their  ease.  Now, 
quietly  to  acquiesce  in  the  evil  of  which  we  are 
speaking,  and  occasionally  to  lend  it  a  little  aid, 
will  secure  all  their  desires.  They  can  thus 
"swim  in  smooth  waters;"  while  a  manly  Chris- 
tian course  would  require  no  little  exertion,  and 
expose  them  to  many  troubles.  And  thus  this 
class  also,  help  on  the  idolatry  of  Episcopacy. 

But,  perhaps  the  largest  source  of  this  evil,  and 
that  without  which  all  others  could  have  very 
little  efficiency,  indeed,  could  not  long  exist  at  all 
— is  the  unhappy  state  of  many  of  our  people. 
Partly  from  the  want  of  due  care  in  admitting 
men  to  the  ministry,  partly  because  the  Gospel  is 
too  often  not  faithfully  preached  in  our  pulpits. 


CAUSES  OF  EPISCOPAL  IDOLATRY.  97 

or  rather  not  preached  at  all,  and  in  part  from  the 
want  of  a  Scriptural  discipline  in  regard  to  admis- 
sion, to  the  communion; — from  all  these  and 
other  similar  causes,  it  has  come  to  pass  that  we 
have  very  many  among  us  who  profess  and  call 
themselves  Churchmen,  but  who,  it  is  mournfully 
manifest,  are  utter  strangers  to  the  truth  and 
grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Now  who,  with 
only  a  tolerable  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
cannot  see  that  in  the  eyes  of  many  such  men, 
Ep'scopacy,  as  too  often  exhibited  among  us,  will 
be  likely  to  present  itself  with  peculiar  attractive- 
ness ?  They  lift  up  their  eyes  to  the  idol,  and 
are  bewitched  with  its  enchantments.  Havingr 
no  spirituality  of  mind  whatever,  and  without 
any  Scriptural  ideas  of  the  Gospel  ministry,  they 
are  prepared  to  listen  with  pleasure  to  every 
proud  claim  and  superstitious  view  of  the  Episco- 
pal office  which  may  be  advanced  in  their  hear- 
ing. They  are  thus  ready  and  eager  themselves 
to  bow  down  to  Baal,  and  will  henceforth  favor, 
with  all  their  hearts,  those  measures  and  those 
men,  and  only  those,  that  favor  this  idolatry. — 
The  minister  therefore,  who  would  get  along 
peaceably  with  such  Churchmen,  and  be  ad- 
vanced by  them,  must  help  on  the  current  in 
this  way  set  in  motion.  And  thus  the  prophets 
9 


98  CONDITION  AND  PROSPECTS  &C. 

and  the  people  mutually  corrupt  each  other,  and 
the  idolatry  of  Episcopacy  grows  and  strengthens 
by  their  means. 

How  often  have  we  witnessed,  in  years  gone 
by,  the  movements  of  such  churchmen  with  sad 
misgivings  for  the  future.  The  mornings  of  Sun- 
days might  ordinarily  find  them  in  church  ;  but 
further  than  this,  they  gave  little  heed  to  public 
worship.  Family  religion  was,  of  course,  a  mat- 
ter of  little  concern  with  them.  In  a  word,  the 
world  ruled  supremely  in  them,  and  in  their  house- 
holds. Thus  was  it  with  them  nearly  all  the 
year  round.  But  what  a  change  an  Episcopal 
visitation  wrought,  or  rather  seemed  to  work  in 
them!  It  was  quite  a  time  of  revival  with  them. 
None  more  alive  and  active  than  they  on  the  oc- 
casion. Were  one  to  judge  of  their  piety  by  their 
devotion  to  the  Bishop,  they  must  pass  for  saints 
indeed.  The  simple-minded,  every-day  Chris- 
tians of  the  parish,  they  whose  prayers,  and 
whose  warm  hearts  and  liberal  hands  were  the 
life  and  support  of  the  church — these  humble, 
unobtrusive  parishioners  would  be  thrown  quite 
into  the  background  by  the  new-born  zeal  of  their 
now  officious  neighbors.  Hence  the  Bishop, 
almost  as  a  matter  of  course,  would  go  away  with 
anything  but  a  true  impression.     The  pious, 


GOVERNMENT    IS    OF   GOD. 


practical  membersofthe  church,  itsreal  supporters, 
would  scarcely  be  known  to  him ;  and  he  would 
place  the  very  hope  of  the  parish  in  those  who 
really  cared  nothing  about  religion,  and  mani- 
fested scarcely  the  semblance  of  concern  on  the 
subject,  except  during  those  periodical  revivals  of 
zeal  which  always  happened  to  coincide  with  the 
period  of  the  Bishop's  visitation. 

One,  and  only  one  other  of  the  sad  influences 
of  this  idolatry  of  Episcopacy  will  our  present 
limits  permit  us  particularly  to  dwell  upon.  It  is 
its  power  manifested  in  immanning  the  mimstry. 
We  believe  that  government  is  of  God, — a  divine 
institution;  and  thoroughly  disapprove  of  that  ra- 
dical, atheistic  spirit,  which  rises  up  in  haughty 
defiance  of  all  authority,  or  turns  away  with  con- 
temptuous indifference  from  "the  powers  that 
be."  This  is  as  unreasonable,  and  mischievous, 
as  it  is  unchristian.  It  is  equally  at  war  with  the 
Bible  and  common  sense ;  and  is  alike  destruc- 
tive of  the  interests  of  time  and  eternity. 

And  yet  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  manJi/  spirit, 
— a  spirit  which,  recognising  equally  in  one's 
self,  as  in  all  others,  the  great  attributes  of  a  com- 
mon human  nature,  refuses  to  bow  down  in  ab- 
ject servility  to  any  ;  and  dares  to  attempt  any 
thing  to  which  Providence  calls,  whatever  diffi- 


100  CONDITION  AND   PROSPECTS    &C. 

ctilties  may  lie  in  the  way.  It  is  to  this  spirit  the 
Apostle  exhorts  us, — "  Quit  yourselves  like  men^ 
be  strong. "  And  Paul  himself  was  pre-eminently 
an  example  of  it.  We  see  it  in  him  when  stand- 
ing before  chief  priests  and  councils,  kings  and 
governors, — always  respectful,  and  yet  always 
frank  and  faithful.  If  he  never  lost  sight  of  what 
was  due  to  others,  it  is  equally  manifest  that  he 
always  felt  what  was  due  to  himself.  He  dared 
to  be  a  man,  and  desired  to  be  nothing  more. 
Hence  while  he  never  crouched  down  to  any, 
either  oppressors  or  evil-doers,  he  would  not  re- 
ceive for  himself  such  idolatrous  prostrations  from 
others.  The  same  Paul,  who  rejected  with  ab- 
horrence the  sacrifices  attempted  to  be  offered  to 
him  by  the  priest  of  Jupiter  at  Lycaonia,  with- 
stood the  Apostle  Peter  to  the  face,  before  the 
whole  Church  of  Antioch,  for  countenancing  a 
departure  from  the  great  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith  only,  and  boldly  preached  of  "righteous- 
ness, temperance,  and  a  judgment  to  come, "  to 
Felix,  that  most  corrupt  Roman  governor. 

Without  this  manly  spirit  nothing  great,  nothing 
noble  was  ever  done,  ever  attempted.  Human 
nature,  stripped  of  it,  sinks  down  into  a  poor, 
creeping  thing. 

Now  we  charge  upon  the  idolatry  of  Episco- 


EPISCOPAL  IDOLATRY  UNMANS  THE  MINISTRY.    101 

pacy  just  this  evil,  that  its  continual  tendency  is 
to  unman  the  ministry  of  the  Church, — not  mere- 
ly a  part,  but  the  wliole  ministry.  In  proof  of 
this,  we  take  a  single  fact  out  of  the  painful  and 
most  humiliating  number  that  crowd  upon  our 
memory  at  this  moment.  And  we  take  it  because 
it  is  related  by  the  individual  who  is  himself  the 
example. 

Not  long  since  a  candidate  for  the  second  order 
of  the  ministry  had,  during  his  examination, 
shown  himself  "radically,  vitally,  fundamentally" 
unsound  in  the  faith.  A  presbyter,  who  was  pre- 
sent, both  at  the  examination  and  ordination,  re- 
fused to  unite  in  the  imposition  of  hands,  and 
published  the  whole  matter  to  the  world.  How 
could  he  do  otherwise  ? — though  this  was  ruin  to 
the  young  man  in  the  estimation  of  all  enlighten- 
ed, pious  people.  But  the  examiner,  the  author 
of  the  statement,  had  discovered  that  the  Bishop 
also,  by  his  own  avowal,  had  equally  departed 
from  the  Gospel.  Here,  then,  was  a  still  more 
sad  and  fearful  fact.  Surely  the  spirit  of  the 
man  was  stirred  to  its  very  depths,  and  he  lifted 
up  a  voice  of  warning  so  loud  and  solemn,  as  to 
make  every  ear  to  tingle  in  the  congregation,  and 
throughout  the  Church  !  Not  at  all.  Listen  to 
the  unhappy  witness  himself, — "  /  was  confound- 

9* 


102  CONDITION   AND   PROSPECTS    &C, 

ed.  It  seemed^  for  the  moment,  cither  that  I  must 
remain  silent,  pr  appear  to  question  the  orihodoxy 
of  my  Bishop.  It  would  he  presumption  in  me  to 
discuss  that  point  at  cdl, — with  that  I  can  have 
nothing  ta  do. "  How  profound  the  prostration  ! 
What  a  pitiable  predicament  for  an  otherwise 
estimable  and  excellent  minister  of  the  Gospel  to 
present  himself  in  before  the  public  !  The  very 
self-same  thing,  which  in  his  view  was  •'  radical, 
vital,  fundamental,^^  against  the  candidate,  a  Dea- 
con, and  of  course  an  insurmountable  obstacle  to 
his  ascent,  must  not  afford  the  sliofhtest  ofround 
even  to  question  the  orthodoxy  of  the  Bishop.  Is 
this  the  "wisdom  which  is  without  particdityT^ 
Surely  a  simple-hearted,  manly,  unperverted  piety 
would  have  thought  and  felt  very  differently ! 
But  here  the  same  conscientiousness,  which  re- 
fused, with  a  resolution  not  to  be  shaken,  all  con- 
currence in  the  ordination  of  an  unsound  Deacon, 
shrunk  back  with  a  mysterious  and  insuperable 
dread  from  the  bare  thought  of  questioning  the 
soundness  of  the  Bishop  —the  patron  and  ordainer 
of  this  very  Deacon!  O  what  sad  havoc  does 
this  idolatry  of  Episcopacy  make  of  the  con- 
science, the  heart,  the  whole  spirit  of  a  minister  ! 
How  like  a  secret  current  it  sweeps  him  along, 
often  insensibly  to  himself,  far  away  from  the 


INFLUENCE    OF   IDOLATRY    UPON    BISHOPS.         103 

true  position  of  duty  and  of  dif^nity  !  Verily,  we 
are  persuaded  that  this  one  evil  has  done  more  to 
unman  our  ministry  than  all  other  causes  com- 
bined ! 

The  unhappy  influence  of  the  idolatry  of  Epis- 
copacy upon  the  mdividuals  themselves  who  are 
the  objects  of  it:-— its  effects  upon  their  personal 
relio'ion.  their  ministrations  generally^  and  their 
whole  tone  of  character  ;-— its  tendency  to  pro- 
duce a  grasping  after  power,  and  to  lead  to  mea- 
sures and  to  practices,  which  in  others,  had  they 
dared  to  attempt  them,  would  have  called  forth 
instant  and  stern  condemnation  :— -these  tliinofs 
we  may  only  glance  at  just  now.  They  deserve 
an  extended  notice,  and  the  deplorable  state  of 
the  Church  imperiously  calls  for  it.  To  blink  at 
them  any  longer  is  treachery  to  Christ  and  his 
cause.  But  we  must  here  close  for  the  present 
and  our  conclusion  needs  be  but  brief. 

If  the  idolatry  of  the  Church,  the  idolatry?-  of  the 
Prayer-Book,  the  idolatry  of  Episcopacy, — to  say 
nothino^  of  other  forms  of  this  orreat  besettinsf  sin 
of  human  nature, — have  so  sadly  infected  us,  is  it 
wonderful  that  many  have  already  gone  to  Rome, 
and  multitudes  more  are  movins:  in  the  same  di- 
rection  ?  Why,  Rome  is  little  other  than  baptized 
lieathcnism^ — the  perfection,  if  we  may  be  allowed 


104  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

an  expressive,  but  inconsistent  combination  of 
terms, — the  jjerfcction  of  Christian  idolatry.  He 
who  takes  the  first  step  in  superstition,  is  just  so 
much  nearer  to  mystical  Babylon,  the  mother  of 
harlots  and  -abominations.  No  honest,  clear- 
headed  man  who  dulyreflects  upon  these  things, 
— certainly  no  enlightened  Christian  can  fail  to 
see,  however  painful  the  prospect, — the  issue  to 
which  our  sins  have  brought  us.  Either  we  must 
shake  off  the  idolatries  now  so  rampant  among 
us,  or  be  driven  onward  by  them  with  rail-road 
speed  to  the  Grand  Apostacy. 


WISHES  OF   THE  BEFORMEES.  105 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Reformers  of  our  Church  gave  evidence 
of  enlightened  piety  when  they  claimed  not  per- 
fection for  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  inti- 
mated that  future  changes  might  be  required.  It 
is  indeed  wonderful  that  men  brought  up  in  the 
darkness  of  Popery  should  have  been  able  to  put 
forth  a  volume  so  evangelical  in  its  doctrines  and 
spirit.  We  would  naturally  have  expected,  in 
such  men,  that  much  of  their  old  errors  would 
cling  to  them,  and  not  a  little  of  the  arrogant, 
persecuting  spirit  in  which  they  had  been  nur- 
tured. But,  to  their  yet  higher  honor  be  it 
spoken,  had  they  been  permitted  fully  to  carry  out 
their  views  and  wishes,  we  would  have  had  a 
still  better  book.  Such,  however,  was  the  cor- 
rupt despotism  of  the  civil  government  of  their 
day,  and  the  ignorance  and  superstition  of  the 
multitude,  that  these  men  of  God  were  continu- 
ally held  back,  and  even,  at  times,  compelled  to 
recede.  Hence  they  did — not  what  they  xcould, 
but — what  they  could.  They  had  fondly  hoped 
to  be  able  to  do  more,  and  only  this  hope  over- 
came the  reluctance  of  some  of  them  to  accept 


106  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS   &C. 

the  high  places  of  the  Church.  But  they  were 
necessitatedj  after  all,  to  their  shame  and  great 
grief,  to  leave  to  those  who  should  come  after 
them,  to  complete  the  good  work  they  had  begun. 
Noble  men  !  little  did  you  foresee  how  germi- 
nant  of  mischief  would  be  those  weeds  you  were 
not  allowed  to  pull  up ;  and  that  your  humble 
piety,  which  shrunk  back  at  the  bare  thought  of 
claiming  perfection  for  the  work  of  your  hands, 
would  be  succeeded  by  a  proud  idolatry  impious- 
ly prostrating  itself  to  the  Book,  and  casting  out 
as  evil  the  names  of  all  those  who  should  dare, 
however  reverently,  to  suggest  the  slightest 
change,  even  those  which  you  yourselves  had 
wished  to  accomplish !  But  so  it  is.  And  the 
day  is  now  come,  when  the  bitter  fruits  of  this 
idolatry  have  so  fearfully  developed  themselves 
as  to  make  it  alike  dangerous  and  criminal  any 
longer  to  sit  still.  They  must  be  met,  meekly, 
but  firmly  met,  and  put  away  from  us,  or,  as  a 
Church,  our  light  and  life  will  go  .out  in  utter 
darkness  and  spiritual  death.  "  The  Episcopal 
Church, "  said  a  distinguished  layman,  on  a  re- 
cent occasion,  with  a  simplicity  of  diction  emi- 
nently befitting  so  solemn  a  truth,  and  exactly 
expressing,  we  doubt  not,  the  mind  of  very  many 


REFORBIATION    OF    THE  PRAYER-BOOK.  107 

in  every  part  of  our  Zion,  "  The  Episcopal  Church 
must  be  purified,  divided,  or  destroyed  /" 

We  purpose  at  this  time  very  briefly  to  notice 
a  few  of  those  things  in  the  Prayer-book  which, 
if  we  mistake  not,  require  the  hand  of  reforma- 
tion. The  welfare,  indeed  the  very  existence  of 
our  Church,  as  a  sound  and  efficient  member  of 
the  great  Christian  body,  demands  attention  to 
this  subject.  We  must  either  be  brought  closer 
to  the  standard  of  God's  word,  or  perish  in  our 
own  corruption.  If  this  work  be  not  speedily 
done,  many  will  leave  us  in  despair  of  better  days, 
and  seek  a  purer  Christianity  elsewhere  ;  and  the 
unsound  amonsf  us  be  borne  onward  the  more 
rapidly  to  Mystic  Babylon,  the  mother  of  harlots 
and  abominations.  But  let  us  yet  hope,  and  en- 
deavor to  come  to  this  necessary  reformation 
work  with  a  wisdom  and  a  fidelity  which  only 
God's  word  and  spirit  can  supply. 

In  the  task  now  before  us,  we  begin  with  two 
general  remarks,  the  correctness  of  which,  we 
suppose,  will  be  acknowledged  by  all  who  have 
carefully  and  candidly  considered  the  position 
and  writings  of  our  Reformers. 

First,  it  was  no  more  possible  for  them  than 
for  Luther  and  Calvin  to  get  entirely  rid  of  their 
old  errors.     More  or  less  of  Rome  would   still 


108  CONDITION   AND   PROSPECTS    &C. 

cleave  to  them.  It  would  be  a  miracle  were  it 
otherwise.  And  what  is  this  but  merely  saying 
that  they  were  not  perfect  men? 

Secondly,  with  the  mass  of  the  people  around 
them,  and  not  only  this,  but  with  much  the 
larger  part  of  the  clergy  involved  in  Popish  dark- 
ness, prejudices,  and  superstition,  the  Reform- 
ers of  our  Church  would  naturally  feel  themselves 
constrained  to  yield  as  much  as  possible  to 
Popery,  and  to  seem  to  yield  a  great  deal  more. — 
Now  to  suppose  that  they  never  gave  way  to  this 
impulse  unduly  or  unconsciously,  would  be,  man- 
ifestly, to  hold  them  up  as  perfect  men,  a  character 
which  the)^  themselves  never  claimed,  and  in- 
deed would  have  disclaimed  in  the  strongest 
terms,  had  they  supposed  that  any  could  be  so 
foolish  as  to  ascribe  it  to  them. 

These  remarks,  so  probable  in  themselves,  and 
so  abundantly  supported  by  the  testimony  of  his- 
tory, will,  if  candidly  and  charitably  reflected 
upon,  enable  us  to  come  to  the  examination  of  the 
work  of  our  Reformers  with  a  Christian  faithful- 
ness v/hich,  while  it  shrinks  from  no  demand  of 
truth,  will  dispose  us  to  regard  with  undiminish- 
ed, yea  increasing,  reverence  and  gratitude,  those 
who  achieved  so  much  under  circumstances  so 
trying  and  perilous. 


BEFORMATION    THROWN    BACK.  109 

I.  Are  not  the  Communion  Office,  and  ihe  first 
form  of  Absolution  in  the  morning  and  evening 
Prayer  so  drawn  np  that,  while  they  contain  the 
evanofehcal  doctrine — the  former  indeed  with 
great  fulness  and  imprcssiveness, — they  present 
so  much  of  a  Popish  aspect  also  as  tended  at  first 
to  reconcile  Romanists  to  our  communion,  and 
now  affords  a  seemins:  orround  for  the  Romish  er- 
rors  of  Puseyism?  And  this  policy,  be  it  noted, 
as  it  respects  the  first  efiect  aimed  at,  was  emi- 
nently successful.  The  Romanists  continued  in 
the  communion  of  the  Church  till  the  twelfth 
year  of  Elizabeth,  when  they  quit,  not  from  any 
objection  to  the  servii?.e,  but  in  obedience  to  a  bull 
of  P.ope  Pius  IV.  And  yet  like  all  other  compro- 
mises of  principle  it  turned  out  in  the  long  run  a 
most  unhappy  policy.  For  the  Romanists  them- 
selves, the  party  courted,  continued  in  the  Church 
only  for  a  time,  but  Romanism,  thus  favored,  has 
ever  since  more  or  less  troubled  us. 

In  respect  to  the  communion  office,  it  is  re- 
markable that  the  work  of  reform,  since  Edward 
VI.,  has  been  in  some  measure  thrown  back.  For 
example,  the  words  used  at  the  distribution  of  the 
bread  and  wine  were  simply,  "take  and  eat  this 
in  rcmcmhrance^ "  (fee,  and  '-  drink  this  in  r.  mcm- 
brancc,^^  (fee,  implying  that  the  Supper  was 
10 


110  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C.' 

merely  a  eucharistic  commemoration,  made  effica- 
cioiis  only  by  faith.  Thus  the  service  stood  at 
the  death  of  Edward  and  at  the  accession  of 
Elizabeth.  It  was  then,  however,  changed  into 
the  present  form,  "  The  hody  of  our  Lord,  "  <fec., 
and  "the  hlood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  (fcc. 
This,  with  other  changes  of  a  similar  character, 
all  favoring  the  idea'of  transubstantiation,  or  the 
real  presence,  was  well  adapted,  and  in  fact 
avowedly  intended,  to  reconcile  Romanists  to 
their  position  in  the  Church,  and  affords  too 
much,  at  least  seeming,  support  to  their  Puseyite 
successors  of  our  day. 

It  deserves  also,  to  be  noticed  in  this  connec- 
tion that,  when  our  Church  was  organized  in  this 
country,  after  the  Revolutionary  war,  what  is 
called  the  oblation  and  invocation,  were  incorpo- 
rated in  the  consecrating  prayer  of  the  commu- 
nion office,  from  the  first  Prayer-book  of  Edward 
YI.,  and  that  of  the  Scotch  Episcopal  Church. 
For  this  change  we  see  no  necessity  in  the  Scrip- 
tural account  of  the  institution  of  the  supper,  and 
though  it  may  not  be  irreconcilable  with  Protes- 
tant views,  yet  it  could  not  but  be  acceptable  to 
men  of  Romanizing  tendencies,  especially  as  the 
declaration  in  the  English  Prayer-book,  guarding 
against  a  popish  interpretation  of  the  communion 


BAPTISMAL    OFFICE.  Ill 

office,  was,  at  the  same  time,  omitted.  It  is  calcu- 
lated also,  ill  no  small  degree,  to  countenance 
Romanism,  that  in  the  communion  office  the  Apo- 
crypha is  quoted  in  the  same  connection  with  the 
sacred  Scriptures,  thus  apparently  commending 
it  to  us  as  of  equal  authority  with  the  inspired 
writings.  Thog^  who  are  aware  of  the  grounds 
which  the  Apocrypha  affi^rds  to  Popish  errors, 
cannot  but  lament  such  an  amalgamation  in  our 
Prayer-book. 

But  one  remark  will  our  limits  permit  us  to 
oifer,  on  the  first  form  of  absolution.  Its  opening 
sentences  appear  in  a  most  imposing  manner  to 
present  the  Popish  claim  of  priestly  power  to 
pardon  sins  ;  though  in  the  latter  half  it  suddenly 
comes  down  from  this  high  claim,  and  sets  forth 
the  Protestant  doctrine  of  divine  forofiveness 
upon  repentance  and  faith.  The  second  form  of 
absolution  is,  however,  entirely  consistent  with 
the  simplicity  and  purity  of  Protestantism,  and 
ought  alone  to  be  found  in  a  Reformed  Liturgy. 

II.  The  Baptismal  Office.  There  is  certainly 
no  part  of  the  Prayer-book  so  open  to  objection  as 
this;  none  that  has  so  grieved  the  hearts  of  good 
men  from  the  very  first.  In  a  ministry,  little 
short  of  thirty  years,  the  writer  has  never  con- 
versed upon  this  service  with  an  intelligent,  pious 


112  CONDITION   AND   PROSPECTS    &C. 

lay  member  of  our  Church,  whether  male  or  fe- 
male, who  did  not  express  reo^ret  at  some  of  the 
expressions  employed  in  it ;  neither  has  he  met 
with  a  clergyman,  at  all  evangelical  in  character, 
who  did  not  profess  a  desire  to  see  some  change 
in  it.  And  it  is  a  well  known  fl\ct,  that  other 
evangelical  denominations  around  us  when  they 
speak  of  us  at  all,  almost  invariably  set  down  the 
baptismal  office  to  our  discredit.  That  it  has 
kept  out  of  our  Church  many  serious  people  of 
such  denominations,  who  have  been  otherwise 
disposed  to  come  into  it,  is  also  a  fact  of  which 
few  faithful  pastors  among  us,  of  much  observa- 
tion, can  be  ignorant. 

Such  being  the  character  of  this  office,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  it  has,  from  the  time  of  the  Re- 
formation down  to  our  own  day,  called  forth  so 
much  discussion.  Let  us  here  very  briefly  notice 
the  three  constructions  which  have  been  most 
commonly  put  upon  it.  One  of  these  explains  it 
as  teaching  that  every  subject  of  baptism  is 
thereby  spiritually  regewratcd.  This,  it  need 
hardly  be  added,  is  the  Romish  view.  It  is  the 
doctrine  of  opus  operatum  applied  to  baptism  ; — 
a  doctrine,  though  essential  to  the  system  of  Ro- 
manism, yet  equally  at  war,  we  believe,  with  the 
Bible  and  all  Christian  experience.     The  regene- 


ECCLESIASTICAL   REGENERATION.  113 

ration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  is  a  spiritual,  holy 
chanofe,  exhibiting  itself,  as  opportunity  allows, 
hi  repentance,  fliith,  and  newness  of  life.  The 
latter  cannot  be  found  where  the  former  does  not 
exist.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  to  speak  of  a  re- 
generate person  as  an  impenitent,  unbelieving, 
wicked  man,  would  be  alike  unscriptural  and  ab- 
surd. But  that  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands, 
who  have  been  baptized,  never  give  the  slightest 
evidence  of  spiritual  regeneration — remain,  all 
their  days,  impenitent,  afar  off  from  Christ,  and 
worldly,  if  not  openly  wicked  in  their  lives,  is  a 
fact  as  notorious  as  it  is  painful.     Further,  how 

0 

few  real  Christians  ai'e  there  who,  though  bap- 
tized in  infancy,  do  not  know  that  there  was  a 
time  when,  so  far  from  being  regenerate  and  chil- 
dren of  God,  they  were  unreconciled  to  God  in 
heart  and  life,  and  enemies  to  Him  by  wicked 
works,  and  had  they  died  in  that  state,  they  must 
have  perished.  And  they  bless  and  praise  God 
for  that  radical,  holy  change  in  the  spirit  of  their 
mind,  of  which  they  have  through  the  riches  of 
grace,  as  they  humbly  trust,  been  made  the  sub- 
jects. 

Others  view  the  baptismal  oflice  as  teaching 
only  an  ecclesiastic  d  regeneration ;  that  is,  a 
change  of  circumstances,  a  transfer  by  this  solemn 

10* 


114  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS  &C. 

rite  from  the  world  to  the  visible  Church.  They 
hold  that  though  the  subject  of  this  ordinance  is 
not  thereby  made  holy  in  the  spirit  of  the  mind, 
yet  is  he  taken  into  covenant  relation  with  God ; 
and  to  be  brought  into  this  state,  or  covenant  rela- 
tion, is  to  be  regenerated  in  the  sense  of  the  bap- 
tismal office.  Both  these  classes,  then,  hold  that 
regeneration  always  takes  place  in  baptism;  but 
the  one  considers  it  a  spiritual,  the  other  only  an 
external  changfe;  the  one.  a  chano-e  of  character, 
the  other,  of  condition;  It  has,  indeed,  been  ob- 
jected to  the  views  of  the  second  class — those 
who  maintain  merely  an  ecclesiastical  regenera- 
tion in  baptism,  that  the  office  itself  speaks  of  the 
change  as  a  spiritual  regeneration.  And  yet  this 
class  has,  doubtless,  numbered  among  its  advo- 
cates very  many  excellent  men  from  the  time  of 
Ezekiel  Hopkins,  Bishop  of  Londonderry,  to  the 
present  day.  By  thus  construing  it,  such  persons 
are  enabled  to  reconcile,  in  their  minds,  the  lan- 
guage of  the  service,  which  certainly  teaches  a 
regeneration  of  some  kind,  with  their  views  of 
spiritual  regeneration  and  its  kindred  truths  of  the 
Bible.  In  no  other  way  could  they  consistently 
use  the  service. 

There  is  a  third  class,  however,  who  maintain 
that  neither  a  spiritual  nor  an  ecclesiastical  regene- 


The  baptismal  office  hypothetical.       115 

ration  is  tau^lit  in  the  baptismal  office,  as  taking 
place  at  the  administration  of  the  rite.  The 
language,  they  say,  is  clearly  hypothetical,  as  any 
one  must  see  who  reads  the  questions  put  to  the 
sponsors.  The  infant  is  there  considered  as  an- 
swering by  the  sponsors — its  mouth-piece.  It, 
the  infant — thus  professes,  through  them,  repent- 
ance and  faith,  and  the  purpose  to  lead  a  godly 
life.  And  what  else,  ask  they,  could  the  Church 
do  in  such  a  case  than  speak  of  the  subject  of  bap- 
tism, after  such  a  profession,  as  regenerated  by 
the  Holy  Spirit?  They  who  repent,  and  believe, 
and  purpose  through  God's  help  to  lead  a  new  life, 
must  certainly  be  born  again.  In  virtue  of  this 
profession  the  subject  of  baptism  is  taken  into 
covenant  relation  with  God,  and  is  thus  brought 
under  additional  obligations  to  be  and  to  do  all 
that  the  Gospel  requires  of  him.  This  view  of 
the  baptismal  office  has  a  large  number  of  sup- 
porters; and  is  the  one,  we  believe,  most  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  Articles,  the  Homilies,  and  the 
general  teaching  of  the  Prayer-Book.  And  yet 
we  cannot  but  confess  that,  we  regard  a  form  of 
baptism  involving  such  an  hypothesis  as,  to  say 
the  least,  very  perilous.  Carefully  thinking,  pious 
men  may  not  be  placed  in  much  hazard  by  the 
use  of  it;  but  the  great  mass  of  the  people  will, 


116  CONDITION   ANU    PROSPECTS    &C. 

we  fear,  be  continually  liable  to  put  a  positive 
construction  upon  the  service,  and  thus  be  in 
danger  of  either  running  into  the  Popish  doctrine 
of  baptismal  regeneration ;  or,  of  rejecting  the 
service  as  Popish,  and  ultimately  quitting  the 
Church  altogether;  or,  after  struggling  for  light 
on  the  subject  a  while  in  vain,  of  settling  down 
contented  with  no  clear,  definite  views  whatever. 
In  this  last  state  we  have  reason  to  apprehend 
that  the  great  mass  of  our  people,  and  not  a  few 
of  our  ministers,  really  are  at  this  moment. 

Doubtless  the  baptismal  office — we  repeat  it — 
has  kept  very  many  enlightened,  serious  Chris- 
tians out  of  our  Church,  who  would  otherwise 
have  gladly  come  into  it.  With  no  part  of  the 
Prayer-Book  have  we  ever  heard  so  much  fault 
found  as  with  this,  by  pious  persons,  both  minis- 
ters and  people,  in  our  Church  and  out  of  it.  It 
is  a  standing  reproach  to  us,  and  a  stumbling- 
block  in  the  way  of  multitudes. 

Such,  then,  are  the  three  views  of  this  service 
which  have  been  widely  held  among  us.  And 
although  we  doubt  not,  but  that  there  is  ground 
sufficient  in  the  service  for  the  favorers  of  the 
ecclesiastical  and  the  hypothetical  construction  to 
stand  upon,  and  thus  honestly  continue  in  the 
communion  of  our  Church;  yet  we  do  greatly  fear 


DANGER    OF  THE    BAPTISMAL    OFFICE.  117 

that  the  general  impression  made  by  the  baptis- 
mal service  upon  our  people  is  favorable  to  the 
views  of  those  who  teach  baptismal  regeneration. 
Nothing,  perhaps,  hinders  the  quite  general  pre- 
valence of  these  views  among  us,  but  the  power  of 
the  Bible  and  enlightened  Christian  experience. 
Indeedj  so  strongly  impressed  are  we  with  this 
conviction,  that  we  must  frankly  say  that  were 
we  sitting  in  judgment  on  a  minister  charged  with 
an  offence  against  the  Church  because  hold^fig 
the  doctrine  of  baptismal  regeneration,  we  would 
be  compelled,  in  conscience,  to  vote  for  his  acquit- 
tal, on  the  ground  that,  though  we  believed  it  a 
most  unscriptural  and  dangerous  error, — a  prime 
element  of  Popery — yet  the  baptismal  office  was 
not  so  clearly  against  him  as  to  warrant  his  con- 
demnation. We  might,  indeed,  have  a  very  poor 
opinion  of  him  as  a  pious  man,  and  a  minister  of 
the  Gospel,  yet,  as  a  functionary  of  our  Church, 
holding  his  position  on  the  platform  of  her  stand- 
ards, we  think  we  can  see  in  these  some  honest 
ground  for  him  to  stand  upon.  Certainly  the 
evangelical  view  of  our  Articles  must  be,  at  least, 
as  offensive  to  the  advocate  of  baptismal  regenera- 
tion, as  his  views  of  the  baptismal  office  are  to 
evangelical  men.  And,  if  it  be  said  that  the  proof 
of  the  first  class  of  views  is  clear  and  abundant, — 


118  CONDITION   AND   PROSPECTS    &C. 

this  we  deny  not — yet,  as  in  the  latter  case  there 
is,  at  least,  a  doubt,  we  would  feel  bound,  in 
accordance  with  the  well  known  forensic  maxim, 
to  give  the  accused  the  full  benefit  of  that  doubt. 
As  our  present  object  is  merely  to  call  the  at- 
tention of  serious,  thinking  men  to  the  evils  above 
noticed,  and  others  of  a  kindred  character,  and 
not  to  Avrite  a  complete  treatise  upon  them,  we 
must  here  close  with  a  few  brief  remarks  upon 
th^  influence  of  these  evils. 

/While,  then,  w^  would  acknowledge  with  deep 
thankfulness,  that  the  great  truths  of  the  Gospel, 
.^— man's  sinfulness  and  ruin  by  nature  and 
practice,  the  divinity  and  atonement  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  the  influence  of  the  Spirit,  the  neces- 
sity of  repentance,  faith,  and  holiness, — are  all 
set  forth  with  a  most  impressive  simplicity, 
earnestness,  and  solemnity  in  both  these  offices,  as 
well  as  throughout  the  Prayer-book;  yet,  if  with 
this  our  spiritual  food,  such  unwholesome  ingre- 
dients are  mingled  up,  as  many  have  always  com- 
plained of,  and  we  have  attempted  to  show, — can 
we  for  a  single  moment  be  at  a  loss  to  account  for 
the  various  outbreaks  of  the  Popish  plague,  with 
which  our  Church  has  been  visited  since  the  Re- 
formation? And  can  we  reasonably  hope  for 
deliverance  from  that  most  fearful  visitation  of  it 


THE   SEEDS   OF    OUR    EVILS.  119 

which  now  "walketh  in  darkness,  and  wasteth 
at  noon-day,"  throughout  our  borders,  so  long  as 
we  cherish  the  seeds  of  it  in  our  very  formularies? 
The  times  demand  of  us  not  only  "the  spirit  of 
wisdom  and  of  counsel,  the  spirit  of  love  and  of 
a  sound  mind  ;"  but  a  most  disinterested,  fearless 
zeal,  a  God-given  determination  to  sacrifice  every 
thing,  if  need  be,  for  Christ,  and  the  purity  of  his 
Church. 


120  CONDITION   AND   PROSPECTS    &C. 


CHAPTER  X. 

It  is  pleasant  to  find  something  to  commend  in 
those  with  whom,  in  many  respects,  you  are 
obliged  to  differ.  It  is  pleasant,  because  such 
commendation  may  show,  to  the  comfort  of  your 
own  conscience  and  to  the  conviction  of  others, 
that  you  have  been  influenced  by  no  unkind  feel- 
ings when,  on  other  occasions,  you  have  been 
compelled  to  censure.  Who  has  not  experienced 
this  gratification  in  seeing  some  instance  of  jus- 
tice, truthfulness,  kindness,  or  magnanimity  ex- 
hibited by  an  opponent  ?  It  would  argue  a  very 
unhappy  state  of  mind  not  to  be  conscious  of  pe- 
culiar pleasure  in  such  a  manifestation.  Indeed, 
so  strongly  do  some  persons  desire  this  kind  of 
happiness,  that,  not  merely  for  fear  lest  they  may 
fall  short  of  doing  full  justice  to  an  adversary,  but 
apparently  for  the  pure  pleasure  of  the  thing 
itself,  do  they  often  give  credit  to  such  an* one  for 
good  qualities  which  he  by  no  means  possesses. 
We  have  seen  instances  of  this,  and  have  not  felt 
inclined  to  undeceive  the  real  magnanimity 
which  could    thus  feast  on  fancied    excellence. 


BISHOP    MEADE.  121 

Better  err,  we  have  thought,  in  this  direction,  than 
the  opposite.  And  yet  we  must  not  lose  sight  of 
the  fact,  however  humiliating,  that  fallen  human 
nature  is  usually  not  very  quick  to  discern  the 
good  qualities  of  an  opponent. 

We  were  led  into  tlue  foregfoinof  train  of  reflec- 
tions  by  the  perusal  of  an  article  in  a  late  number 
of  Tile  Churchman.  It  is  in  some  respects  ad- 
mirable, so  much  so,  that  we  can  take  little  credit 
to  ourselves  for  discovering  its  rare  qualities  and 
applauding  them.  They  would  force  themselves 
upon  any  one  not  totally  blind  ;  and  most  parsi- 
monious of  praise  must  he  be,  who  could  withhold 
commendation  from  such  extraordinary  excel- 
lencies. 

The  article  which  we  have  in  view,  is  contained 
in  The  Churchman  of  April  lOth,  1847,  published 
in  New  York, — a  paper  preeminently  devoted  to 
the  propagation  of  Puseyism.  As  the  piece  is 
quite  brief,  and  for  fear  that  we  might  be  suspected 
of  partiality  or  injustice,  to  the  writer,  we  will' 
here  copy  it  verbatim. 

"bishop  MEADE  AND  BAPTISM. 

Dear  Mr.  Editor,— I  have  just  been  reading  at- 
tentively Rev.  Mr.  Ten  Broeck's  reply  to  Bishop 


122  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

Meade's  "  Second  Letter.  "  And  what  a  state  of 
things  does  it  reveal !  I  confess  it  requires  no 
little  faith  to  see  one's  way  through  such  scandals. 
Here  is  a  Christian  Bishop  daring  openly,  through- 
out the  Church,  to  impugn  the  Church's  teach- 
ing upon  Baptism- — a  doctrine,  as  we  all  see, 
necessary  to  the  slightest  glimpse  into  the  practi- 
cal teachings  of  the  New  Testament — testified 
to,  without  exception,  by  every  writer  of  the 
Primitive  Church,  that  has  come  down  to  us — 
taught  most  undeniably  and  conspicuously 
throughout  the  Prayer-book.  I  say  a  Christian 
Bishop  dares  do  this,  and  no  one  dare  present 
such  a  man  for  trial.  It  is  a  grievous  oifence,  I 
assure  you,  to  many,  that  such  things  should  be 
suffered — that  our  branch  of  the  Church  should 
have  no  voice  to  raise  on  such  a  subject.  This 
principle  of  Baptismal  grace  is  fundamental  and 
cardinal  to  the  existence  of  a  Church — so  univer- 
sally held  too,  that  like  the  eternity  of  future 
punishment,  and  the  Apostolic  Succession,  the 
Church  has  never  thought  necessary  to  bind  it  j 
formally  upon  her  members  in  the  Creed  ;  it  being 
not  so  much  a  doctrine  as  a  first  principle,  and 
means  of  her  life  and  existence. 

If  these  things  are  suffered  to  go  unrebuked,  Ij 
for  one,  must  look,  not  certainly  at  any  thing 


BISHOP   MEADE.  123 

see,  for  evidence  of  vitality  and  genuineness  in 
such  a  body.  Has  not  the  time  come,  when 
these  matters  should  be  brought  to  some  issue! 

How  can  I  live  in  a  Church  where  the  founda- 
tion, that  I  am  seeking  to  lay  this  year  for  the 
spiritual  life  of  my  flock,  may,  next  year,  through 
the  agency  of  such  a  man  as  Bishop  IMeade,  be 
entirely  overthrown  and  set  at  naught?  What  a 
temptation  is  this  to  infidelity  among  the  simple- 
minded  ! 

One  or  the  other  of  us,  ?mist  be  wrong,  and  why 

not  have  it  declared  at  once  ichich  of  us  it  is  ? 
The  Christianity  of  him  who  holds  the  principle 
of  Baptism,  consistently,  is,  throughout,  a  different 
religion  from  that  of  such  men  as  Bishop  Meade. 
There  is  no  reconciling  them — they  cannot  live 
together,  except,  in  the  end,  the  house  that  holds 
them  fall.  If  our  Church  is  going  to  allow  such 
teaching  in  her  Bishops,  I  fear  I  must  at  some 
time  question  her  validity  [vitality?]  It  is  the 
glazed  eye  that  has  only  one  vacant  stare  for  every 
passing  object, — it  is  the  dead  body  that  can  utter 
no  voice  when  torn  in  pieces  by  contention. 

Is  the  Church  the  mere  relic  of  by-gone  times, 
the  Repository  and  Mausoleum,  merely,  of  what 
Jias  hezn  said  and  done  before?  Or  is  she  herself 
now,   what  she  ever  has  been,  really — and   not 


124  CONDITION    AND   PROSPECTS    &C. 

commemoratively  only — a  living  body,  with  the 
right  and  the  power  to  condemn  false  teachers  in 
her  midst,  and  to  grapple  with  the  age  as  she 
finds  it?     Yours  very  truly, 

OCCIDENTALIS.  " 

Who  Occidental  is  is,  we  know  not  ;  he  may 
be  a  personal  friend  ;  he  may  be  an  entire  stran- 
ger. We  shall  go  into  no  criticism  upon  the 
style  of  his  piece— its  clearness,  simplicity,  and 
directness;  for  however  important  these  quali- 
ties, and  deserving  (if  high  praise,  they  are  all  lost 
in  the  resplendence  of  other  and  superior  at- 
tributes. Let  us  notice  a  few  of  these  loftier  ex- 
cellencies. An  honest,  serious  consideration  of 
them  may  not  be  without  its  use  in  helping  us 
to  discern  some  of  the  sources  of  our  present 
troubles. 

I.  The  CANDOR  of  Occidentalis.  He  has  no 
reserves,  no  concealment.  We  have  read  of  a 
robe  among  the  ancients  of  a  texture  so  exquisitely 
delicate  as  to  be  appropriately  termed  woven  air. 
Just  such  is  our  authors  piece.  Its  candor  ren- 
ders it  perfectly  transparent  from  beginning  to 
end.  Look  at  a  single  point,  how  it  shines  out 
as  in  a  noon  day's  sun — the  doctrine  of  Baptismal 
Regeneration.  This  doctrine  is  so  manifestly 
part  and  parcel  of  Popery,  that   those  professed 


CAADOR BAPTISMAL   REGENERATION.  125 

Protestants  who  had  unhappily  fallen  into  it, 
have  heretofore  very  seldom  plainly  avowed  it; 
perhaps  they  have  not  always  suspected  it  in 
themselves.  But  however  this  be,  they  have 
been  wont  to  put  it  forth  under  various  guises, 
at  times  so  complicated  and  obscure  as  to  make 
it  difficult  to  prove  it  upon  them.  Hence  the 
mass  could  not  understand  them  at  all ;  could  get 
no  definite  idea  whatever  of  their  teachings  upon 
this  subject ;  and  the  simple  have  often  been  de- 
cived.  Thus  these  writers  are  not  nn frequently 
able  to  escape  the  odium  of  Romanizing,  and  to 
raise  the  cry  of  uncharitableness  against  those 
who  bring:  such  a  chars^e  a2:ainst  them. 

But  not  so  our  auther.  He  seeks  no  dubious 
phrase  to  cover  over  his  meaning  in  whole  or  in 
part.  He  most  evidently  understands  himself, 
and  is  determined  to  be  understood  by  others ;  or 
rather,  he  does  not  seem  to  suppose  it  possible 
for  any  to  misunderstand  him.  This  doctrine, 
he  tells  us, — the  doctrine  of  Baptismal  Regenera- 
tion, or  "Baptismal  Grace," — is  so  essential,  that 
without  it  we  cannot  have  "the slightest  glimpse 
into  the  practical  teachings  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. "  He  assures  us  also  that  it  is  a  doctrine 
unanimously  held  by  the  Primitive  Church, — 
"taught  most    undeniably    and    conspicuously 

11* 


126  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

throughout  the  Prayer-book," — yea,  "so  funda- 
mental and  cardinal  to  the  existence  of  a  Church 
that  she  has  never  thought  necessary  to  bind  it 
formally  upon  her  members  in  the  Creed." 

It  may  indeed  be  objected,  in  respect  to  the  last 
position,  that  if  the  term  Crced^  be  used  in  its 
most  narrow,  technical  sense,  then  the  argument 
of  our  author  is  without  force:  for  certainly 
there  is  much  not  in  the  Creed,  thus  understood, 
far  from  being  fundamental,  but  which  every 
member  of  our  Church  must  believe.  But  if  the 
term  be  employed  in  its  most  comprehensive  im- 
port, to  express  the  standards  of  the  Church 
generally, — does  not  our  author,  in  this  case, 
destroy  his  own  cause?  For  certainly  none  will 
contend  that  the  doctrine  of  Baptismal  Regenera- 
tion is  a  truth  of  Natural  Theology,  or  a  dictate 
of  common  sense;  if,  therefore,  continues  the 
objector,  the  Church  has  not  formally  bound  it 
upon  her  members,  either  she  must  have  been 
very  unfaithhil,  or  the  doctrine  cannot  be  funda- 
mental and  cardinal,  as  the  author  asserts. 

Very  true,  all  this  may  be,  but  let  it  be  borne  in 
mind  that  we  are  not  now  defending  either  his 
logical  coitsistence,  or  the  theological  soundness 
of  our  author;  it  is  only  his  candor  we  are  hold- 
ing up,  and  this  excellence  certainly  none  will 


IffANLINESS    COMMENDED.  127 

deny  bim.  Whatever  our  opinion  of  his  views 
of  Christianity  or  the  Church,  we  ought  not  to 
withhold  from  him  one  jot  or  tittle  of  merited 
commendation.  We  may  indeed  regret  that 
candor  so  rare  were  not  found  in  a  different  as- 
sociation, still,  for  its  own  sake,  who  can  help 
admiring:  it?  Would  that  it  had  been  more 
generally  exhibited  among  us  I  How  different 
micrht  have  been  our  state  at  this  moment.  What 
a  world  of  darkness  and  misunderstanding,  and 
controversy,  and  still  more  deplorable  evik^,  might 
have  been  avoided! 

Let  our  author,  then,  have  the  high  meed  of  a 
rare  and  most  transparent  candor  awarded  him. 
But  he  has  another,  and,  if  not  a  more  noble,  yet 
a  more  rare  and  impressive  excellence.     It  is, 

II.  Manliness.  Candor  and  manliness  gene- 
rally, indeed,  go  together,  but  not  always.  It  is 
possible  to  acknowledge  a  principle,  and  yet 
shrink  back  from  its  consequences.  But  Occiden- 
talis  has  no  such  weakness.  How  like  a  man 
does  he  take  his  position !  '•  The  Christianity  of 
him  who  holds  the  principle  of  baptism"  (Bap- 
tismal Regeneration,)  "consistently,  is  throughout 
a  different  religion  from  that  of  such  men  as^'  do 
not.  "  There  is  no  reconciling  them. "  Certain- 
ly not;  we  join  hands  with  you  here,  Occiden- 


128  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

talis.  The  religion  of  Spiritual  Regeneration, 
and  Justification  by  faith,  and  their  kindred 
elements — in  a  word,  Evangelical  religion — is  a 
totally  different  thing  from  the  religion  of  Bap- 
tismal Regeneration  and  Justification  by  works, 
and  whatever  else  goes  to  make  up  the  religion 
of  forms.  They  have  no  one  point  in  common. 
To  hold  both  is  impossible.  He  who  attempts 
to  harmonise  them,  shows  himself  a  stranger  to 
one  or  both.  And  what  a  deal  of  trouble  would 
it  have  saved  us,  and  what  a  different  position 
would  our  Church  have  been  in  at  the  present 
moment,  had  others  generally  exhibited,  in  this 
matter,  but  a  tithe  of  the  manliness  of  our  author. 
But,  again,  the  results  of  this  difference,  how- 
ever painful  and  appall ino^,  Occidentalis  does  not 
hesitate  to  hold  up  to  view.  "  They,"  that  is  the 
religion  of  Baptismal  Regeneration,  and  the  re- 
ligion of  spiritual  regeneration,  or  Evangelism 
and  Formalism,  "cannot  live  together,  except,  in 
the  end,  the  house  that  holds  them  fall.  "  Most 
true,  this,  Occidentalis  ;  and  most  manfully 
spoken.  The  Church  that  is  made  up  of  such 
heterogeneous  materials  must  jjet  rid  of  the  one 
or  the  other,  or  come  to  nought.  There  is  no 
possibility  of  two  such  systems  always  living 
together.    They  are  mutually  destructive.     Just 


niGu  ciiuRcnisM  and  evangelisji  antagonistic.  129 

as  the  one  flourishes,  must  tlie  other  g-o  down. 
The  Churcji  that  attempts  to  comprehend  both, 
instead  of  beinor  a  aarden  of  the  Lord  exhibitinsf 
throughout  fruits  fair  to  the  eye  and  good  for  food, 
must,  sooner  or  later,  become  little  else  than  a 
vast  moral  desert,  full  of  noxious*  beasts  and  all 
unclean  things — a  hideous  spiritual  Aceldama. 

Rightly  then,  and  right  manfully  does  our 
author  avow  that  if  such  an  association  is  to  be 
allowed,  he  must  question  the  "validity," 
[vitality?]  "of  the  Church;"  that  she  is  only  a 
Church  in  appearance,  but  really  a  dumb  carcass, 
— a  Mausoleum  full  of  dead  men's  bones  and  all 
uncleanness.  And  let  no  one  think  that  all  this 
is  mere  flourish.  By  no  means.  Occidentalis  is 
for  action,  right  onward,  manful  action.  He  would 
have  the  matter  settled  at  once,  as  between  sys- 
tems of  religion  entirely  opposite  there  can  be  no 
compromise  ;  one  or  the  other  must  be  fatally 
wrong.  "  Has  not  the  time  come,"  he  asks,  "when 
these  matters  should  be  brought  to  some  issuel 
One  or  the  other  of  us  must  be  wrong,  and  why 
not  have  it  declared  at  once  ichich  of  us  it  is  ?" 
This  is  candid  ;  it  is  more — it  is  manful.  It  is  not 
merely  acknowledging  what  is  true;  but  looking 
the  truth  right  in  the  face. 


130  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

And  yet  had  our  author  stopped  here,  would 
there  not  have  been  something-  waijting,  some- 
thing to  complete  the  proof  of  a  perfectly  manly 
spirit  ?  But  he  does  not.  He  not  only  puts  his 
finger  upon  the  (ffence^  but  boldly  points  out  the 
offender^  that  life  may  be  forthwith  arraigned,  and 
the  whole  matter  at  once  and  forever   settled. 

"  How,  '^  he  asks,  "  can  I   live  in  a  Church 

where  the  foundation,  that  I  am  seeking  to  lay 

this  year,  for  the  spiritual  life  of  my  flock,  may, 

next  year,  through  the  agency  of  such  a  man  as 

Bishop  Meade,  be  entirely  overthrown  and  set 

at  nought  ?     It  is  a  grievous  offence,  I  assure  you, 

to  many  that  such  things  should  be  suffered — 

that  our  Church  should  have  no  voice  to  raise  on 

•  « 

such  a  subject.  Here  is^a  Christian  Bishop  daring 
openly,  throughout  the  Church,  to  impugn  the 
Church's  teaching  upon  Baptism.  I  say  a  Chris- 
tian Bishop  dare  do  this,  and  no  one  dare  present 
such  a  man  for  trial.  "  How  candid !  How  like 
a  man !  Who  can  doubt  the  honest,  intrepid, 
straight-forward  consistency  of  Occidentalis  ? 

But  do  any  complain  that  we  have  not  dealt  out 
a  full  measure  of  justice  to  this  writer  ?  Were 
we  to  stop  here,  certainly  we  would  be  open-  to 
such  a  charge.  But  having  given  all  due  com- 
mendation, and  not  a  whit  more,  we  believe,  let 


MI^"ISTERS    WHO    HATE    THE    TRUTH.  131 

US  now  look  at  the  matter  in  quite  another  point 
of  view. 

A  most  candid,  manly  bearing  all  must  concede 
to  Occidentalis.  This  we  have  most  freely  ac- 
corded to  him.  But  how  does  his  piece  appear 
when  looked  at  as  the  production  of  a  minister  of 
the  Church  ?  Is  there  not  much  in  it  to  excite 
the  most  painful  reflection?  Does  it  not  manifest 
throughout  a  settled  and  most  determined  hostility 
to  Evangelical  truth,  and  the  religion  which  is 
the  fruit  of  it,  and  all  those  who  profess  it?  Had 
Occidentalis  his  own  way,he  would  tolerate 
nothing  but  the  religion  of  Baptismal  Regenera- 
tion with  its  dead  and  deadly  results ;  all  else 
would  be  speedily  cast  out,  as  speedily  as  Stephen 
was  dragged  out  of  Jerusalem,  and  very  much  in 
the  same  spirit  too. 

How  sad  the  state  of  things  which  such  a  piece 
as  that  of  Occidentalis  discloses.  Our  Church, 
with  her  Evangelical  Articles,  Homilies,  and 
Liturgy,  has  in  her  midst — who  can  now  doubt 
it? — men  who  rancorously  hate  her  doctrines,  and 
all  who  believe  and  faithfully  preach  them.  Why 
is  this  so  ?  How  did  such  men  get  among  us  ? 
How  is  it  they  can  remain  with  us  ?  Can  our 
discipline  be  Scriptural  ?  Or  is  it  that  we  do  not 
faithfully  carry  it  out?     There  is  certainly  great 


132  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS  &C. 

fault  somewhere.  And  till  this  evil  be  remedied 
by  the  exercise  of  a  true  Christian  faithfulness, 
what  hope  can  we  have  of  deliverance  from  our 
present  troubles?  But  it  is  not  chiefly  with  refe- 
rence to  this  evil  that  we  have  called  attention  to 
the  piece  of  Occidentalis.  It  suggests  to  us  another 
and  a  far  more  painful  evil,  one  without  which 
we  could  have  had  but  little  of  our  present  trou- 
bles, or  might  have  soon  been  relieved  from  them. 
We  allude  to  the  sad  deficiency  in  better  men  of 
•  just  that  candor  and  manliness  which  so  strikingly 
characterise  Occidentalis. 

Were  we  asked,  to  what  more  than  to  all 
other  causes  combined  do  we  owe  our  present 
troubles?  we  would  be  compelled  to  express  the 
conviction  that  it  was  to  a  want  of  candor  and  man- 
liness in  the  Evangelical  portion  of  our  Church. 
We  do  "  esteem  these  brethren  very  highly  in 
love  for  their  works'  sake :"  during  a  ministry 
of  nearly  thirty  years,  we  have  acted  in  most 
responsible  and  endearing  association  with  them; 
and  we  have  no  other  expectation  nor  wish  than 
to  live  and  die  with  them.  It  is,  therefore,  with 
shame  and  deep  grief  we  have  given  utterance  to 
the  confession  now  made.  But  our  convictions 
are  the  result  of  many  years  of  painful  experience, 
and  we  are  persuaded  that  nothing,  in  the  long 


THE    GREAT    CAUSE    OF    OUR    TROUBLES.         133 

run,  is  ever  lost  by  a  frank  avowal  of  truth,  how- 
ever humiliatinor.  A  wisdom  far  above  man's 
policy  has  taught  us — "  He  that  covereth  his  sins 
shall  not  prosper:  but  whoso confesseth  and  for- 
saketh  them  shall  have  mercy." 

We  are  well  aware,  indeed,  that  there  is  some- 
thing in  the  truly  pious  heart  which  prompts  it 
to  think  the  best  even  where  appearances  are 
strongly  the  other  way  ;  and  to  shrink  back  from 
the  avowal  of  what  implies  the  condemnation  of 
those  who  are  of"  the  contrary  part. "  And,  to  a 
certain  extent,  this,  we  grant,  is  right ;  it  is  a  mani- 
festation of  that  "charity  which  thinketh  no  evil, 
and  hopeth  all  things. "  But  is  it  not  a  violation 
of  genuine  Christian  charity  when,  by  silence,  or 
soft  speeches,  or  compromising  courses,  we  give 
our  sanction  to  men  and  measures  that  must  be 
radically,  vitally  wrong,  if  the  gospel  gives  not  an 
uncertain  sound,  and  our  professsion  of  religion 
be  not  all  a  delusion?  Now  this  is  just  the  blame 
we  take  to  ourselves.  We  have  professed  to  be- 
lieve in  the  utter  ruin  of  man  through  sin,  his 
justification  by  faith  only  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  necessity  of  a  spiritual  regeneration  or  a  radi- 
cal, holy  change  of  heart:  these  we  have  professed 
as  the  great,  distinguishing  truths  of  the  glorious 
gospel  of  the  ever-blessed  God  ;  and  we  have  pro- 
12 


134  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

fessed,  too,  that  only  in  the  cordial  reception  of 
these  truths  is  that  character  formed  and  that  life 
produced  which  mark  the  child  of  God,  and  give 
a  "  meetness  for  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in 
light. "  All  this  we  profess  ;  and  yet  have  we  not 
for  years  heard  and  seen  every  one  of  these  pre- 
cious truths  opposed  and  denied,  and  a  system  of 
religion  exactly  the  opposite,  one  utterly  destitute 
of  the  Gospel  and  of  every  thing  which  the  pious 
heart  holds  dear,  not  only  insidiously  urged,  but 
openly  and  authoritatively  promulged  and  pressed 
upon  us  ?  Now  have  we  candidly  and  manfully, 
as  became  us,  exposed  and  resisted  these  errors? 
We  greatly  fear  that  we  have  not.  A  few  hono- 
rable exceptions,  and  especially  of  late  days,  there 
doubtless  are,  such  as  the  excellent  man  whom 
Occidentalis  particularly  denounces,  and  a  few 
others  of  like  spirit ;  but  as  a  body  have  we  not 
greatly  erred  in  this  matter  ? 

Had  we  on  every  proper  occasion,  meekly  and 
charitably,  but  frankly  and  firmly,  on  the  floor  of 
Conventions,  from  the  press,  in  the  pulpit,  and  in 
our  social  intercourse,  set  forth  the  deep  convic- 
tions of  our  hearts  in  respect  to  the  gospel  and 
the  position  of  our  opposers,  very  different,  by 
God's  blessing,  might  have  been  our  present  state. 
By  such  an  honest,  faithful  course,  we  would  at 


FAITHFULNESS   SIIGIIT    HAVE    SAVED    US.        135 

least  have  cleared  ourselves  of  the  guilt  of  giving 
sanction  to  those  who  oppose  the  truth  ;  the  world- 
ly among  us,  both  professors  of  religion  and  non- 
professors,  would  have  been  compelled  to  see  the 
difference  and  to  judge  between  us,  instead  of 
being  so  mystified  as  they  very  generally  now  are 
by  our  more  than  dubious  conduct;  and  who 
knows  how  many  even  of  those  now  most  zealous 
in  the  ranks  of  Puseyism  might  have  been  con- 
verted to  Christ  ? 

Occidentalis,  we  have  seen,  does  not  hesitate  to 
say  that  the  gospel  and  the  religion  of  his  party 
are  totally  at  variance  with  those  we  profess,  that 
there  is  no  reconciling  them,  that  they  cannot  live 
together  ;  and  who  of  us  does  not  know  this  to 
be  so,  and  has  not  at  times  expressed  the  same 
thing?  But  why  have  not  these  expressions 
been  candidly  and  manfully  made  where  and 
when  they  would  be  likely  to  be  of  much  profit — 
in  our  preaching,  in  our  Avritings,  at  our  Conven- 
tions, in  our  intercourse  with  those,  both  minis- 
ters and  people,  whom  the  Word  of  God  and  our 
own  consciences  compel  us  to  regard  as  opposers 
of  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  "  unregenerate  men, 
strangers  to  the  power  of  godliness  ? 

From  a  candid,  manly  course,  we  have  every 
thing  to  expect.     ISluch  odium  it  would  doubtless 


136  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

excite,  though  not  more  so  than  it  did  of  old,  but 
if  Hke  the  faithful  of  those  days  we  shrink  not 
back  from  this  cross,  we  surely  would,  as  they 
did,  behold  the  same  blessed  results.  Many, 
"  both  men  and  women,  would  be  daily  added  to 
the  Lord, "  and  even  "a  great  company  oi Priests 
be  obedient  to  the  faith.  " 

But  if  unchristian  timidity — a  sheer  moral 
cowardice, — or  love  of  ease,  or  ambitious  aspira- 
tions, and  above  all,  a  hankering  after  the  mitre^ 
be  suffered  to  suppress  a  faithful  testimony,  and 
lead  us  to  unholy  compromises — verily  we  shall 
have  our  reward,  though  Romanism  continue  to 
sweep  over  us,  and  its  waters  prevail  exceedingly 
so  that  all  the  high  hills  under  the  whole  heaven 
be  covered,  and  all  flesh  die,  in  whose  nostrils  is 
the  breath  of  life. 


POWEE    A    DANGEROUS    POSSESSION.  137 


CHAPTER  XL 

There  are  few  possessions  more  dangerous  than 
that  of  power.  Dangerous  to  those  who  hold  it, 
dangerous  to  the  subjects  of  it.  A  very  large 
portion  of  the  ills  under  which  mankind  have 
groaned  since  the  fall,  may  be  clearly  traced  to 
the  abuse  of  power. 

And  yet  power  must  be  possessed  by  some;  in- 
asmuch as  government  is  a  divine  institution,  and 
absolutely  necessary  not  only  to  the  welfare,  but 
to  the  existence  of  the  human  family.  ■  As  a 
means  therefore  of  doing  good,  power  may  be 
properly  desired  and  obtained.  But  no  truly  good 
man  will  covet  it  for  its  own  sake;  and  he  must 
have  little  self-knowledge  and  still  less  wisdom, 
who  would  accept  it  without  a  plain  call  of  duty. 

If  therefore  all  men  were  wise  and  good,  power 
might,  perhaps,  be  safely  left  to  abide  with  little 
restriction  where  Providence  seemed  to  direct  its 
course.  Few  would  wish  it ;  still  fewer  would 
need  it;  and  all  would  be  blessed  by  its  exercise. 
But,  unhappily,  this  is  not  the  case  with  us. 
Scarcely  anything  is  more  greedily  sought  after 
12* 


138  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

than  power ;  and  the  selfish,  and  the  ambitious — 
those  least  fit  to  possess  it — will  be  sure  to  get 
much  the  larger  part  of  it.  Thus  it  certainly  has 
hitherto  been  in  the  world.  Hence  so  great  a 
portion  of  the  thoughts,  the  anxieties,  and  the 
efforts  of  men  has  ever  been  employed  to  devise 
and  apply  the  necessary  restrictions  upon  power, 
to  punish  the  abuses  of  it,  and  to  relieve  the  evils 
which  it  has  occasioned. 

And  let  no  one  suppose  that  this  hankering  after 
power,  and  the  abuses  of  power,  have  been  con- 
fined to  the  world ;  that  these  evils  have  never  en- 
tered into  the  Church.  Certainly  there  are  much 
stronger  securities  in  the  latter  against  troubles 
from  this  source;  and  yet  it  is  not  to  be  denied 
that  there  are  in  the  Church  peculiar  and  very 
strong  temptations  to  the  love  of  power,  and  that 
the  evils  of  its  abuse  are  there  vastly  more  to  be 
dreaded.  He  who  enslaves  my  body  does  me  a 
great  wrong ;  but  death  will  speedily  deliver  me 
from  his  chain.  Not  so  the  Spiritual  Despot. 
His  ills  are  commensurate  with  the  soul ;  they  go 
with  it  into  eternity,  and  too  often,  it  is  to  be 
feared,  drag  his  victim  down  with  him  to  his  own 
miserable  doom.  Hence  the  Bible  has  not  left  us 
without  many  plain  and  solemn  warnings  upon 
this  subject.     "  I  will  punish  all   that  oppress 


POWEK    NOT    FAITHFULLY   GUARDED.  139 

The  Lord  will  execute  judgment  for  all  that  are 
oppressed. " 

But  we  must  draw  these  introductory  observa- 
tions to  a  close  ;  and  we  do  so,  with  the  general 
remark,  that  a  regard  for  the  character  and  happi- 
ness of  those  to  whom  she  is  obliged  to  intrust 
power,  as  well  as  a  regard  for  her  own  welfare, 
requires  that  the  Church  proceed  in  this  whole 
matter  with  the  utmost  degree  of  Scriptural  wis- 
dom, firmness  and  fidelity. 

Have  we,  then,  as  a  Church,  been  duly  careful 
here?  If  we  have  not,  certainly  we  have  laid  our- 
selves open  to  many  troubles.  And  is  there  not 
much,  at  the  present  time,  to  awaken  us  to  a  seri- 
ous consideration  of  this  subject  ?  It  ought  not 
to  be  any  longer  overlooked :  but  for  its  full  dis- 
cussion a  volume  were  required.  And  few  things, 
we  are  persuaded,  could  be  just  now  of  more  bene- 
fit to  us  than  such  a  volume,  if  faithfully  written. 
In  this  essay  we  can  only  offer  a  few  remarks 
upon  a  single  point — this,  however,  is  one  of  chief 
importance.  May  the  Sovereign  Head  of  the 
Church  give  us  grace  to  discuss  it  meekly  and 
charitably,  but  frankly  and  firmly  ! 

As  our  object  is  neither  individual  aggression 
nor  individual  vindication,  but  a  far  higher  one — 
the  Church's   welfare — we  will  name   no  one, 


140  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

whether  the  unfaithful  trustee  or  the  unhappy- 
victim  of  power ;  we  will  refer  to  no  fact  of  recent 
occurrence,  except  perhaps  to  one  or  two,  so  noto- 
rious that  our  mention  of  them  cannot  make  them 
more  so,  and  we  will  expose  no  more  of  these 
evils  than  duty  to  a  troubled  Church,  seems  most 
solemnly  to  demand  of  us.  We  must  speak,  and 
how  can  we  be  more  guarded,  more  careful  to 
avoid  unnecessary  offence  ? 

Are  not  our  Bishops  almost  totally  irre- 
sponsible ?  We  mean  not  so  much  theoretic,  as 
practical  responsibility.  And  it  is  important  that 
this  distinction  be  here  kept  in  view,  for  although 
our  legislation  on  this  subject  is  exceedingly 
meagre  and  defective,  practice  under  it,  as  might 
be  expected,  is  too  often  far  worse. 

As  it  regards  the  legislation,  our  limits,  of 
course,  forbid  a  particular  examination  of  it.  A 
single  fact,  however,  will  be  sufficient  to  show 
its  imperfection  and  the  necessity  of  a  careful  revi- 
sion of  it,  if  we  wish,  as  a  Church,  to  avoid  that 
violent  disruption  which  accumulated  abuse  of 
power  will  be  sure  ultimately  to  produce. 

At  the  trial  of  a  Clergyman  some  years  ago, 
when  the  several  members  of  the  Court  were 
called  upon  to  give  their  views,  one,  the  first 
who  spoke,  expressed  it  as  his  clear,  solemn  con- 


IRRESPONSIBILITY   OF    BISHOPS.  141 

viction,  that  the  offender  ought  to  be  degraded; 
but  the  other  members,  while  they  denied  not  the 
justice  of  this  sentence,  were  in  favor  only  of  sus- 
pension, and  justified  themselves  for  deciding 
upon  apparently  so  inadequate  a  punishment,  by 
the  fact  that  it  would  be  really  tantamount  to 
degradation,  because  tlic  Bishop  hated  the  accused 
so  much  that  he  would  keep  him  for  ever  suspended. 
And  such  was  the  judgment  rendered!  We  do 
not  find  fault  with  the  punishment  in  this  case 
for  its  severity ;  but  we  do  complain  of  that  legis- 
lation which  puts  it  in  the  power  of  any  man  to 
gratify  his  vindictive  feelings  with  impunity. 
Public  justice,  and  not  private  passion,  should  be 
the  ground  and  reason  of  punishment ;  otherwise 
a  flood  gate  is  opened  to  most  enormous  corrup- 
tion and  oppression.  In  this  case  indeed  the  ac- 
cused happened  to  be  a  very  bad  man,  and  richly 
deserved  all  the  ills  inflicted  upon  hfm:  but  had 
he  been  of  exactly  the  opposite  character,  he 
could  have  had  no  remedy.  The  innocent  and 
the  guilty  may  alike  be  crushed  under  such  a 
state  of  things. 

But  perhaps  some  will  say,  if  there  is  no  law  by 
which  a  Bishop  is  held  responsible  in  such  cases, 
why  not  have  recourse  to  the  convention?  Surely 
The  assembled  Clergy  and  the  Lay-representa- 


142  CONDITION    AND     PROSPECTS    &C. 

lives  of  the  Church  would  not  permit  the  humblest 
member  of  our  communion,  much  less  a  minister, 
to  be  oppressed.  All  this  may  seem  very  plausi- 
ble, but  experience  has  proved  it  to  be  only  plau- 
sible ;  experience  has  proved  how  totally  inade- 
quate such  a  body  is  to  afford  redress.  One  of  the 
grossest  outrages — not  excepting  even  the  famous 
Duer  case  in  the  New  York  Convention — which 
the  writer  ever  witnessed,  occurred  upon  an  oc- 
casion of  this  sort.  A  Clergyman  of  the  highest 
respectability  both  for  character  and  position,  once 
attempted,  in  the  most  kindly  and  respectful  man- 
ner, to  bring  up  the  casg  of  a  suspended  minister 
before  the  Convention  of  the  Diocese ;  and  what 
was  the  result?  A  torrent  of  the  most  malignant 
invective  was  immediately  poared  out  upon  him. 
He  repeatedly  appealed  to  the  Bishop,  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  body,  to  protect  him  against  per- 
sonalities so  gross.  But  the  Bishop  permiUed  the 
storm  to  rage  on,  apparently  as  a  terror  to  all  who 
might  hereafter  be  disposed  to  venture  upon  that 
way. 

Take  a  case  of  a  different  kind,  which  has  oc- 
curred, and  may  very  often  occur  hereafter.  A 
Clergyman,  called  to  an  important  pastoral  charge 
in  another  Diocese,  waited  upon  his  Bishop  to 
procure  the  usual  canonical  letter  of  dismission. 


NOXSTROUS   OPPRESSION.  143 

The  Bishop  refused  to  give  it  to  him.  After 
some  mild  expostulation  upon  the  hardship  of 
his  case,  and  finding  the  Bishop  immovable,  the 
Clergyman  then  said,  "the  dimissory  letter  is 
not  an  expression  of  individual  opinion  or  feel- 
ing— it  can  never  rightly  be  so  understood — it  is 
purely  an  official  act,  declaratory  of  the  official 
standinof  of  him  who  bears  it.  Now  I  am  not 
sensible  of  having  at  any  time  fallen  into  an  of- 
fence, either  in  doctrine  or  conduct;  but  if  it  is 
believed  that  I  have,  let  me  be  at  once  lawfully 
presented  and  put  upon  trial.  I  refuse  not  to 
meet  a  public  accusation;  but  I, am  unwilling  to 
be  the  victim  of  private  dislike.  I  ask,  therefore, 
not  as  a  favor,  but  as  a  matter  of  simple  justice, 
either  a  canonical  dismission,  or  a  canonical  trial." 
The  Bishop  would  grant  neither,  and  gave 
no  other  reason  than  his  disapprobation  of  the 
Presbyter's  ecclesiastical  course.  And  yet  this 
minister  was  reg^arded  with  the  strongest  confi- 
dence  and  affection  by  the  flock  which  he  was 
just  about  to  leave,  and  by  all  others  among 
whom  he  had  before  or  has  since  ministered. 
His  standing  has  never  been  impeached.  The 
plain  truth  of  the  case  is — the  man  was  openly 
and  uniformly  evangelical,  and  the  Bishop  had 
an  insuperable  dislike  to  all  such  men  and  their 
ways. 


144  CONDITION   AND   PROSPECTS,    &C. 

But  here  it  may  be  asked — why  not  have  the 
Bishop  presented  for  sucli  manifest  and  high- 
handed despotism  ?  Such  an  attempt  there  was 
every  reason  to  believe  would  have  been  perfect- 
ly in  vain.  At  least,  so  the  aggrieved  Clergy- 
man was  constrained  to  regard  it.  He  knew  that 
there  was  not  the  least  probability  of  obtaining 
justice  in  this  way;  and  even  had  there  been,  he 
had  no  means  of  sustaining  himself  and  family 
till  the  result  could  be  accomplished  by  such  a 
process.  He  and  they  must  starve.  He  felt  that 
he  was  helpless,  and  had  all  power  arrayed 
against  him.  He  was  compelled,  therefore,  to 
submit  in  silence  to  this  monstrous  injustice  and 
oppression. 

But  this  is  not  the  whole  case ;  it  involves 
still  another  feature  of  Episcopal  irresponsibility. 

The  a2;grieved  minister  removed  to  the  Diocese 
to  which  he  had  been  called,  and  presented  him- 
self to  the  Bishop,  and  was  received  without  the 
required  document.  Tlie  Bishop  saw  at  a  glance 
the  nature  of  the  Presbyter's  case,  and  admitted 
him  into  regular  standing  witnout  any  canonical 
warrant  whatever.  How  may  Episcopal  irrespon- 
sibility vault  overall  legal  barriers!  Here  the 
one  Bishop  trampled  the  law  under  foot  in  re- 
fusing to  give  the  required  testimonial  j  and  the 


MONSTROUS    OPPRESSION.  145 

Other  manifested  equal  disregard  in  receiving  the 
applicant  without  it.  But  in  either  case,  the  in- 
nocent may  be  crushed,  or  the  guilty  escape ;  and 
irreparable  evils  be  brought  upon  the  Church. 

We  have  seen  in  the  case  just  related,  what  a 
Bishop  may  refuse  to  do,  either  because  there  is 
no  law,  or  in  spite  of  it;  but  it  is  not  merely  ne- 
gative acts  of  injustice  he  may  be  guilty  of  with- 
out the  possibility,  as  things  now  are,  of  being 
called  to  account.  He  may  inflict  also  positive 
injuries,  and  these  of  the  most  serious  kind  with 
the  like  impunity.  ^ 

We  have  known  a  Bishop  assail  from  the 
press,  the  characters  of  individuals  in  such  a 
manner  as  would  subject  him  in  any  civil  court 
in  Christendom  to  an  action  for  slander.  Cer- 
tainly in  such  a  case,  the  way  to  justice  in  the 
Church  should  be  so  open  and  direct  that  the  in- 
jured party  could  have  easy  and  immediate  ac- 
cess. But  they  well  knew  that  they  had  nothing 
to  hope  for  here  ;  that  their  only  hope  was  to  repel 
the  attack  in  the  way  in  which  it  was  made,  to 
publish  to  'the  world — however  painful  to  their 
feelings  and  injurious  to  the  Church — a  refutation 
of  the  Bishop's  misrepresentations.  Accordingly, 
a  refutation  so  clear  and  abundant  was  presented, 
as  completely  to  prevent  his  success. 
13 


146  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

Three  Conventions  decided  against  him, — not 
that  he  should  be  disciplined  for  his  assauUs  upon 
individual  character;  no,  for  that  point  was  not  up, 
and  there  was  no  way  in  which  it  could  be  brought 
up, — but  that  he  should  not  be  permitted,  so  far  as 
the  Church  was  concerned,  to  reap  the  fruits  of 
his  policy. 

Here,  would  it  not  be  supposed,  that  the  matter 
was  at  an  end  ? — that  having  failed  in  his  main 
object,  he  would  cease  to  persecute  those  who,  he 
supposed,  once  stood  in  his  way?  But  as  if  to 
show  how  utterly  irresponsible  a  Bishop  is,  how 
far'he  could  go  with  impunity,  in  violation  of  all 
that  is  truthful,  and  just,  and  christian,  he  re- 
published years  afterwards,  without  the  least  pro- 
vocatioUy  and  with  additional  aggravation,  his 
former  charges,  and  all  this  as  though  nothing 
had  been  said  or  done  to  disprove  then?.  Do  we 
speak  thus  to  repel  these  misrepresentations  and 
expose  the  spirit  that  produced  them?  Not  at 
all.  This  was  done  long  ago  ;  and  the  individuals 
assailed  felt  that  rejoinder  was  altogether  unne- 
cessary to  their  characters.  We  have  now  but 
one  object  in  view, — one  which  duty  to  a  suffering 
Church  compels  us  to  attempt, — it  is  simply  to 
call  attention  to  the  irresponsibility  of  Bishops  as 


GROSS    OUTRAGES    BY    A    BISHOr.  147 

a  sad  evil,  an  evil  lying  very  largely  at  the  founda- 
tion of  our  present  troubles. 

Another  case  we  must  present,  proving"  still 
more  strongly,  if  possible,  the  almosj  total  irre- 
sponsibility of  Bishops. 

Some  years  since  it  came  to  the  knowledge  of 
a  professional  gentleman  of  high  standing,  and  a 
member  of  our  Church,  that  his  Bishop  had  been 
repeatedly  guilty  of  lewd  conduct,  under  very  ag- 
ofravatinof  circumstances.  Havinof  obtained  leo^al 
proof  of  the  facts,  he  determined  to  present  the 
whole  matter  to  the  next  Diocesan  Convention. 
But  supposing  it  discreet  and  proper  to  consult 
some  other  members,  clerical  and  lay,  before  taking 
so  important  a  step,  he  did  so  ;  and  was  advised 
by  them,  to  his  utter  astonishment,  not  to  bring 
the  matter  up  at  all,  on  the  ground  that  such  a 
procedure  would  be  productive  of  much  evil, 
without  the  least  prospect  of  doing  any  good. 
There  was  not,  in  their  opinion,  however  conclu- 
sive the  evidence  of  the  Bishop's  guilt,  the  slightest 
reason  to  hope  that  the  Convention  would  present 
him.  Convinced  at  last  that  they  were  right  in 
this  view — however  painful  and  humi hating  such 
a  conviction  was — he  dropped  the  whole  affair. 
And  the  public  would  probably  have  never  been 
informed  of  it,  had  not  this  same  Bishop  on  another 


148  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

occasion,  in  a  moment  of  infatuation,  assailed  the 
character  of  this  gentleman,  and  made  it  necessary 
for  him  to  publish  unto  the  world  what,  it  was 
supposed,  it  would  be  worse  than  useless  to  pre- 
sent to  the  Convention.  How  dark  the  state  of 
things  disclosed  by  this  case !  How  imperfect  the 
legislation,  or  to  what  a  depth  of  corruption  must 
we  have  sunk,  when  such  wickedness  could  be 
practised  without  being  called  into  judgment ! 
But  to  turn  to  less  disgustful,  though  equally 
perilous  facts. 

What  but  this  Episcopal  irresponsibility  has 
produced  so  many  efforts  to  give  to  the  Bishop 
of  the  Diocese  a  veto  upon  the  proceedings  of  the 
Convention  thereof?  A  measure  more  destruc- 
tive of  "the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made 
his  people  free, "  and  more  ruinous  to  the  inter- 
ests of  religion  among  us,  it  would  be  scarcely 
possible  to  imagine.  It  would  effectually  and 
deservedly  put  a  stop  to  the  extension  of  our 
Church,  and  not  only  so,  but  speedily  cause  her 
to  dwindle  into  utter  insignificance  in  point  of 
numbers  and  efficiency.  Our  people  must  be- 
come vastly  more  ignorant  and  abject  than  they 
now  are  before  such  a  measure  can  generally  pre- 
vail. We  believe  that  it  has  been  carried  hitherto 
in  only  a  single  Diocese.    But  would  such  a  thing 


EPISCOPAL    VETO    UPON   CONVENTIONS.  149 

ever  have  been  attempted  without  the  concur- 
rence, if  not  the  direct  agency  of  the  Bishop, 
open  or  secret?  And  what  but  a  feeling  of 
almost  total  irresponsibility  could  have  ever  en- 
couraged aBishop  even  to  countenancij  an  attempt 
so  unwise,  unscriptural,  and  ruinous?  And  what 
else — ^just  to  glance  at  a  similar  evil — was  it  but 
this  feeling  of  irresponsibility  that  dared  in  an 
Episcopal  address,  on  a  recent  occasion,  to  hint 
at  the  entire  exclusion  of  the  Laity  from  our 
Conventions?  One  other  matter  of  a  like  cha- 
racter demands  at  our  hands  a  fuller  notice. 

Durins"  the  session  of  the  last  General  Con- 
vention,  when  a  deep  and  painful  interest  was 
generally  excited  by  the  course  it  would  take  in  re- 
ference to  thePuseyistic  defection  and  the  outrages 
it  had  already  inflicted  upon  us,  a  distinguished 
judge  of  one  of  our  state  courts,  and  a  promi- 
nent member  of  our  Church,  remarked  to  a 
friend, — "I  have  been  carefully  looking  at  a  I  the 
tidings  from  our  General  Convention  to  see  what 
the  House  of  Bishops  are  doing."  ''Are  you 
aware,"  answered  his  friend,  "that  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  House  of  Bishops  are.  all  secret? 
That  nothing  is  ever  permitted  to  come  before  ' 
the  Church,  but  such  results  as  they  may  see  fit 
to  make  public?"   "Sir,"  replied  the  Judge,  with 

13* 


150  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

evident  surprise  and  concern,  "  I  was  not  aware 
of  any  such  thing  !" — and  tlien  added  with  deep 
emotion,  "can  it  be  possible  that  such  a  thing 
exists  among  us  ?  The  doings  of  the  most  im- 
portant branch  of  our  General  Legislature  all  con- 
ducted in  the  dark!  Well,  nothing  more  is  now 
necessary  than  to  secure  an  Episcopal  Fund  in 
each  Diocese,  that  the  Bishop  may  be  independent 
of  the  people,  and  then — with  these  secret  sessions 
of  the  House  of  Bishops  and  these  Episcopal 
Funds,  we  shall  have  fastened  upon  us  a  despot- 
ism which  no  power  on  earth  can  ever  shake  oif !" 
Who,  not  altogether  ignorant  of  human  nature, 
and  unacquainted  with  the  workings  of  govern- 
ment and  the  progress  of  power,  can  doubt  the 
truth  of  the  judge's  predictions  ?  What  would  be 
said  were  Congress,  in  either  of  its  parts,  or  our 
state  legislatures,  to  close  their  doors,  and  ha- 
bitually hold  secret  sessions  ?  How  long  could 
our  liberty  stand  ? — how  long  the  purity  of  our 
institutions  be  maintained  under  this  Star  Cham- 
ber system?  There  can  be  no  sufficient  security 
for  truth,  justice,  or  rights,  if  legislative  bodies, 
as  well  as  courts  of  law,  are  not  open  to  public 
view.  The  comm.on  corruption  of  human  nature, 
the  downward  tendency  of  even  the  best  go- 
vernments, the  uniform  disposition  of  power  to  ex- 


HOUSE    OF    BISHOPS   SITS    IN    SECRET.  151 

tension  and  concentration,  must  all  be  carefully 
giiarded  against,  if  we  would  not,  as  a  Church, 
make  shipwreck  of  every  thing  precious,  for  time 
and  eternijy?  Certainly  if  a  dear-bought,  hoary 
experience  has  taught  mankind  any  thing,  it  is 
that  the  pubhc  eye,  continually  upon  all  its  de- 
partments, is  the  best  and  only  sufficient  conser- 
vative influence  in  any  government.  Without 
this,  an  irresponsibility  almost  total,  working 
corruption  and  disaster,  openly  and  covertly,  will 
be  felt  throuf{h  all  our  borders. 

What  else, — to  notice  only  one  other  of  our 
legion  evils, — but  tnis  sense  of  Episcopal  Irre- 
sponsibility has  dared  of  late  to  open  the  doqrs  of 
'"ur  Protestant  ministry  to  such  Romanizing  can- 
didates? Indeed  it  requires  but  little  reflection 
to  discover  how  largely  our  present  troubles  are 
connected  with  this  orreat  and  ofrowinof  evil  of 
Episcopal  Irresponsibility ;  and  to  see  the  utter 
impossibility  of  escaping  them,  so  long  as  this 
evil  is  permitted  to  continue. 


152  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

"Lord  what  wilt  thou  have  me  do  /"'  This 
was  the  inquiry  of  an  earnest  man.  He  had  been 
carefully  trained  in  the  religion  of  his  fathers,  and 
had  zealously  professed  it  many  years.  He  had 
said  prayers  daily,  and,  in  appearance,  devout- 
edly  ;  but  now  he  really  prayed — "  Lord  what 
wilt  thou  have  me  do  V'  He  had  done  much 
hitherto  which  he  thought  right  and  wise,  much 
that  commended  him  to  those  about  him;  he  was 
thus  on  the  hio^h  road  to  distinction  among:  his 
own  countrymen  :  but  now,  for  the  first  time,  he 
really  sought  to  know  what  the  Loi^d  would  have 
him  to  do-  He  had  arrived  at  a  most  momentous 
crisis  in  his  career.  He  had  begun  to  see  that 
vain  were  the  wisdom  and  power  of  man  to  guide 
and  satisfy  an  immortal  soul  ;  that  he  must  be 
divinely  directed  if  he  would  really  advance 
God's  cause  on  earth,  and  be  saved  himself. 

Saul  was  indeed,  and  by  natural  temperament, 
a  zealous  man  before  this ;  but  now  he  became 
vastly  more  zealous.  Or  rather,  his  zeal  assumed 
altogether  another  character.     There  can  be  no 


THE    VALUE   OF   TRUE   ZEAL.  153 

earnestness  like  that  of  religious  earnestness  ;  its 
sources,  its  objects,  its  motives,  its  ends  are  alto- 
gether peculiar.  Its  fire  is  enkindled  from  heaven, 
and  all  its  motives  and  aspirations  are  heaven- 
ward.     It  is  therefore  disinterested,  loft)^,   all- 
comprehensive.     It  has  an  intensity  and  an  en- 
durance which  nothing  in  this  world  can  supply. 
It  was  this  earnestness  which  made  Paul  what 
he  was, — a  holy,  benevolent,  fearless,  self-sacri- 
ficing, eminently  useful  servant  of  Jesus  Christ. 
It  elevated  him  to  glory,  honor,  and  eternal  life. 
But  necessary  as  this  earnestness  was  to  him,  it 
was  equally  necessary,  at  that  time,  to  the  Church 
of  God.  The  Chuich  had  also  arrived  at  a  deeply 
important  crisis  in  her  history ;  and  Paul,  now 
renewed  to  a  true  christian  earnestness,  was  just 
the  man  to  carry  her  safely  and  triumphantly 
through  her   difficulties.     God's   sovereignty  is 
indeed  all-powerful ;  and  the    tallest  archangel, 
much  less  "man,  that  is  a  worm,"  can  add  nothing 
to  its  efllciency.     But  it  is  also  an  infinitely  wise 
sovereignty,  and  having  determined  to  work  by 
means,  carefully  selects  those  means  most  fitted 
to  its  hiorh  desiorns.  Now,  a  true  christian  earnest- 
ness  is  just  that  instrumentality  which  God  usu- 
ally employs  and  most  delights  to  honor.   When 
was  it  otherwise?     When  will  it  ever  be  other- 


154  CONDITION  AND  PROSPECTS  &C. 

wise  ?  The  Scriptures,  even  in  their  boundless 
grace,  o;ive  us  no  reason  to  hope  that  the  Church 
will  ever  prosper  and  be  made  a  praise  in  the 
earth  unless  this  blessing  be  earnestly  desired  and 
earnest' y  sojght  after. 

And  is  not  our  Church,  at  this  day,  in  a  most 
perilous  state  ?  To  what  a  momentous  crisis  have 
we  arrived  !  Shall  the  dark  clouds  which  now 
spread  far  and  wide  over  our  ecclesiastical  heavens, 
completely  cover  us  ?  Is  a  long  night  of  igno- 
rance, superstition  and  corruption  about  to  settle 
upon  us  ?  Are  we,  professedly  Christ's  freemen, 
soon  to  become  poor,  miserable  serfs  of  Rome? 
Certainly,  if  ever  there  was  a  time  when  there 
should  go  up  from  the  heart  of  every  minister  and 
every  member  of  our  Church,  the  cry  of  an  ago- 
nizing earnestness — "Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have 
me  to  do  ?" — it  is  now.  And  if  we  do  thus  wake 
up,  and  call  upon  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church, 
we  shall  all  find  enough  to  do.  God  will,  in  his 
providence,  point  out  to  each  one  of  us,  his  pecu- 
liar part  in  the  mighty  work  before  us  ;  and  He 
Avill  so  bless  our  earnest  effort  and  co-operation  as 
to  disappoint  the  devices  of  the  enemy.  Surely 
He  will  yet  ''save  us  by  a  great  deliverance.  " 

With  such  a  renewed  earnestness  for  Christ  and 


THE    PREACHING    OF    THE    GOSPEL.  155 

his  Church,  will  we  not  see  the  necessity  and  duty 
of  increased  fidelity  in — • 

1.  Preaching  THE  Gospel?  " Great sweHinsr 
words  of  vanity  "  ahout  the  Church,  the  Church, 
the  Church, — its  ministry,  sacraments,  holy  days, 
and  goodly  order,  with  sneers  against  dissenters  ; 
or  a  morality  little  better  than  that  of  the  world; 
or  a  mere  sentimentalism,  mistaken  for  spiritu- 
ality ;  or  some  other  partially  developed  form  of 
Romanism; — in  other  words,  the  not  preaching 
the  Gospel  at  all,  or,  as  an  inspired  Apostle  de- 
scribes it — "  the  preaching  of  another  Gospel? 
which  is  not  another  ;" — this  is  not  the  only  evil 
that  has,  in  these  days,  crept  into  our  pulpits. 

Even  those  who  professedly  hold  the  great 
truths  of  God's  word,  as — man's  utterruin  through 
sin,  justification  by  faith  alone  in  the. Lord  Jests 
Christ,  spiritual  regeneration  or  a  radical,  holy 
change  of  character,  the  perfection  and  Immuta- 
ble obligation  of  God's  law,  the  necessity  of  re- 
pentance and  evangelical  holiness, — even  those, 
we  say,  who  professedly  receive  these  great  truths 
of  God's  word — do  they  hold  them  up  continually 
in  the  pulpit,  and  from  house  to  house,  with  that 
clearness,  deep  solemnity,  and  earnest  affection, 
which  so  strikingly  marked  the  Apostle's  preach- 
ing, and  which,  one  would  suppose,  mustcharac- 


156  CONDITION   AND    TROSPECTS    &C. 

terize  the  whole  ministry  of  all  who  really  be- 
lieve these  truths  and  feel  the  power  of  them  in 
their  own  souls  ?  We  fear  that  there  is  a  orgeat 
fault  here.  Even  where  the  Gospel  is  not  altogether 
absent,  yet  is  it  too  often  preached  in  a  manner  so 
indistinct,  feeble  and  pointless,  or  so  mingled  up 
with  other  things  as  to  make  scarcely  any  im- 
pression. The  hearer  goes  away  little  instructed 
and  still  less  moved.  Having  no  definite  concep- 
tion of  what  the  Gospel  is,  his  heart  remains 
almost  totally  unaffected.  Hence  he  is  poorly 
prepared  to  meet  and  resist  those  false  Gospels 
which  confront  him  at  every  turn.  No  wonder 
then  that  so  few  are  truly  converted  to  Christ; 
that  revivals  of  religion  are  so  rare  among  us  ;  and 
that  such  numbers  fall  a  prey  to  Puseyistic  and 
ofier  Romish  deceivers. 

Must  not  then  our  evangelical  ministry  recur 
afresh  to  the  writings  of  the  Reformers,  and  learn 
what  they  saw  and  felt  Popery  to  be,  and  with 
what  weapon  they  fought  against  it,  and  achieved 
their  glorious  victories  for  Christ  and  his  Church  ? 

Anti-christ  has  again  come  in  like  a  flood  upon 
us,  and  unless  we  meet  him  with  the  plain,  una- 
dulterated, all-powerful  Gospel  in  our  hands,  and 
in  the  honest,  manly,  self-sacrificing  spirit  of  the 
Reformers,  we  shall  speedily  lose  those  precious 


HOW    THE   REFORMERS   PREACHED.  157 

blessings  which  came  to  us  through  their  toil  and 
blood.  But  if  our  ministers  bring  all  their  sermons 
up  to  the  standard  of  God's  word,  thus  exempli- 
fied and  illustrated  by  the  lives  and  writings  of 
the  Reformers,  and  by  the  Articles  and  Homilies 
of  the  Church,  they  will  wield  a  Aveapon  which 
neither  Puseyism  nor  any  other  form  of  Roman- 
ism can  resist, — a  weapon  wherewith  they  will 
be  able  to  put  to  "flight  all  the  armies  of  the  aliens." 
It  is  a  good  rule,  that  every  sermon,  whatever  be 
the  particular  topic,  should  so  plainly  present  the 
great  truths  of  the  Gospd,  that  if  there  be  any 
soul  present  who  never  yet  heard  them,  and  never 
will  have  another  opportunity  of  doing  so, — he 
may  not  be  able  to  perish  for  lack  of  knowledge, 
unless  he  wilfully  close  his  eyes  against  the  light. 
Who  knows  indeed  whether  there  are  not  always 
some  such  present,  and  if  so,  how  can  the  minister, 
who  fails  thus  to  preach  the  Gospel,  escape  the 
guih  of  their  blood  ? 

Again, — with  a  renewed  earnestness  for  Christ 
and  his  Church,  will  we  not  see  the  necessity  and 
duty  of  increased  fidefcty  in — 

II.  Prayer?    Is  it  not  a  time  with  us   for 

special,  fervent  prayer?     Should  not  each  one  of 

us  daily  wrestle  with  God  in  his  closet  in  view  of 

the  sore  evils  that  prevail  among  us  ?     "  Let  the 

14 


158  CONDITIOIN    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

priests,  the  ministers  of  the  Lord,  weep  between 
the  porch  and  the  aUar,  and  let  them  say,  spare 
thy  peo[)le,  O  Lord,  and  give  not  thine  heritao^e 
to  reproach.'^  And  in  every  congregation,  even 
if  there  are  only  two  or  three  in  it  who  mourn 
over  the  desolation  of  Zion, — should  not  these 
meet  together  at  least  once  weekly  to  cry  might- 
ily to  God  for  deliverance  from  the  troubles  that 
have  come  upon  us  ?  In  such  a  case,  surely,  God 
would  hear,  and  answer,  and  revive,  and  bless 
his  people.  Error  would  speedily  flee  away,  and 
superstition  hide  herself  in  the  pit,  and  truth 
shine  out  again  among  us,  and  piety  be  honored 
in  our  high  places. 

But  to  be  more  definite, — suppose  each  min- 
ister and  each  member  of  our  communion,  w^ho 
has  a  heart  for  the  duty,  devote  an  early  hour  of 
every  Sunday  morning  to  secret  prayer;  and  that 
there  be  in  every  congregation  a  special  prayer- 
meeting  on  every  Monday,  till  this,  our  "calamity, 
be  overpast.''  "Ye  have  not,  because  ye  ask 
not."  If  we  "stand  fast  in  one  spirit,  with  one 
mind,  striving  together  for  the  faith  of  the  Gos- 
pel,'' certainly  "the  Lord  will  arise  and  have 
mercy  upon  Zion." 

With  a  renewed  earnestness  for  Christ  and  his 


PRESS DUTY   OF    MINISTERS.  159 

Church,  will  we  not  see  the  necessity  and  duty 
of  increased  fidelity  in  our  use  of — 

III.  The  Press?  The  press,  as  an  instru- 
mentality for  evil  in  religion,  is  already  very 
powerful,  and  is  daily  becoming  more  and  more 
so.  It  has  deluged  us  with  error,  and  exerted  an 
influence  incalculably  mischievous  far  and  wide 
through  the  Church. 

It  is  obviously,  therefore,  the  duty  of  the  friends 
of  the  Gospel  among  us,  both  Clergy  and  Laity, 
to  make  the  press  still  more  subservient  to  the 
propagation  and  defence  of  truth.  But  that  what 
they  write  and  publish  may  be  wisely  adapted  to 
the  times,  they  ought  to  make  themselves  tho- 
roughly acquainted,  not  merely  with  evangelical 
truth  and  its  almost  infinitely  diversified  bearings 
and  applications,  but  with  those  peculiar  errors 
and  evils  also  which  in  all  their  protean  forms 
now  so  sfrievously  trouble  us.  They  will  thus 
be  best  prepared  to  uphold  the  Gospel  and  beat 
down  Antichrist. 

But  to  be  more  particular, — let  each  minister 
publish  every  year,  if  possible,  at  least  one  tho- 
roughly digested  discourse,  setting  forth  some 
particular  doctrine  or  duty  of  Christianity,  or 
poiiuing  out  and  refuting  some  of  the  prevalent 
errors.     Let  his  pen  also  be  frequently  engaged 


160  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

in    giving  increased  light  and  interest  to  the 
columns  of  our  religious  periodicals. 

But  this  is  not  exclusively  the  work  of  the 
ministry.  The  laity  have  here  an  important 
part  to  perform.  There  are  some  things  they 
can  say  from  the  press  better  than  the  Clergy ; 
some  with  more  propriety;  and  some  certainly 
with  more  effect.  How  few  ministers,  whatever 
their  position,  or  however  great  their  abihty, 
could  have  produced  a  work  so  admirably  adapt- 
ed to  its  purposes,  and  so  eminently  efficient  as 
Wilberforce's  Practical  View.  If  our  Church  is 
to  be  saved,  the  laity  m.ust  do  much  towards  it 
with  their  pens.  But,  above  all,  let  us  look  well 
to  the  editorial  department  of  our  religious  press. 
That  this  has  been,  in  times  rast,  too  much  want- 
ing in  fidelity  to  Christ  and  his  Church,  all  who 
have  even  a  moderate  share  of  true  earnestness 
for  these,  must  feel.  Error  has  not  been  as  bold- 
ly confronted,  bad  measures  as  vigorously  grap- 
pled with,  truth  as  honestly  and  faithfully  put 
forth,  as  they  ought  to  have  been.  Had  our  re- 
ligious press  only  come  up  to  its  duty,  candidly 
and  manfully,  we  could  not  possibly  have  sunk, 
as  a  Church,  into  our  present  deplorable  state. 
The  writer  well  remembers  the  unutterable  dis- 
gust with  which,  years  ago,  he   threw  down  a 


PERIODICAL    PKESS ITS    CORRUrTION,  161 

letter  he  had  just  received  and  read.  It  was  from 
an  editor  of  one  of  our  religious  periodicals,  and 
such  was  its  strain  : — *'  those  nuisances,"  alluding 
to  certain  anti-evangelical  Bishops,  "those  nui- 
sances Providence  will  in  lime  remove  from  his 
Church," — and  yet  in  his  weekly  columns  this 
same  man  was  continually  '' nosling  about  the 
knees  of  power." — In  private — "  those  nuisan- 
ces !"  in  public,  "our  right  reverend  pre- 
lates !"  and  so  on  through  every  form  of  inter- 
ested adulation. — O  the  mischiefs  such  editors 
inflict  upon  our  bishops  ! — the  terrible  mischiefs 
they  bring  upon  the  Church!  But  what  may 
not  a  faithful,  ably  conducted,  a  truly  sanctified 
press,  do  for  our  deliverance  ! 

But  here  we  would  remark,  that  there  are  cer- 
tain errors  into  which  some  good  men  among  iis 
have  fallen,  and  which  they  must  shake  off,  or 
we  can  never  escape  those  plngues  of  Popery 
with  which  we  are  now  so  deeply  infected.  The 
evil  which  we  here  have  in  view  may  be,  and  in- 
deed has  been,  thus  expressed.  "  It  is  of  no  im- 
portance how  high  a  man's  church  man  ship  may 
be,  provided  he  preach  the  evangelical  doctrines 
of  our  faith, "•&C.  Provided  !  Truly  so,  my  good 
friend ;  but  has  it  never  occurred  to  you,  to  ask 

yourself  how  many  such  High  Churchmen  you 

14* 


162  CONDITION    AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

have  ever  seen  ?  la  all  his  ecclesiastical  resi- 
dences, North,  South,  East  and  West,  the  writer 
has  never  met  with  a  single  one — one  such,  who 
preached  distinctly  and  unequivocally  the  evan- 
gelical doctrines  of  our  faith.  He  will  not  say 
indeed  that  there  are  none  such ;  but  suppose 
that  there  is  one  here  and  there  to  be  found  in 
some  humble  position ;  how  long  will  it  be  be- 
fore, as  his  views  enlarg-e  and  his  theoloorical 
knowledge  increases,  or,  especially  as  the  way 
may  open  to  his  ambitious  aspirations — how  long 
will  it  be  before  such  a  man  arrives  at  a  point 
where  he  will  feel  that  he  must  give  up  either 
his  evangelism,  or  his  High  Churchmanship? 
And  which  most  commonly  falls  the  sacrifice,  let 
the  sad  history  of  too  many  in  our  Church  de- 
clare. It  never  can  be  otherv/ise.  For  the  man 
who  embraces  high-church  views  of  the  ministry, 
the  sacraments,  or  the  Church,  if  he  only  has 
logic  and  moral  courage  enough,  would  be  sure 
to  end  at  Rome,  were  it  not  for  the  restraints  of 
Providence.  There  is  really  no  consistent  pointy 
no  reasonable  half-way  stopping  place  between 
such  High-Church  Theology  as  Bishop  Hobart's, 
for  example,  (and  we  mention  thi# because  less 
offensive  than  its  kindred  systems,)  and  down- 
right Popery. 


iriGH  CHURCH,   PUSF.YISM,  AND  ROMANISJI.       163 

Let  no  one  then  be  so  captivated  with  the  desire 
of  a  character  for  liberality,  or  yield  so  much  to  a 
love  of  ease,  or  give  wAy  so  far  to  a  feeling  of  moral 
cowardice,  or  so  greedily  covet  "  the  pre-emi- 
nence, "  as  to  be  willing  to  concede  a  single  hair's 
breadth  to  the  false  and  arrogant  claims  of  High 
Churchmanship.  There  can  be  no  compromise 
with  such  a  system.  He  who  receives  a  single 
element  of  it  has  just  so  much  poison  in  his  soul 
that  will  either  kill  it,  or,  at  least,  greatly  impair 
his  piety  and  usefulness.  High  Churchmanship 
is  cssentiallij  Popery.  Puseyism  and  Romanism 
are  merely  increasing  developements  of  the  same 
radical  evil — High  Churchmanship.  And  we 
cannot  rid  ourselves  of  the  two  former,  if  we  do 
not  openly  and  faithfully  contend  against  the 
latter.  Listen  to  a  plain,  learless  testimony  upon 
these  errors  and  dangers,  recently  put  forth  by  the 
pious  and  able  Dr.  Daniel  Wilson,  Bishop  of  Cal- 
cutta. ''In  the  present  day  the  invasion  of  a  semi- 
popish  spirit  has  deluged  our  Church:  a  system 
of  uncommanded  human  traditions  has  been  obtru- 
ded upon  us  ;  one  and  one  onJy  r-igid  form  of  Church 
discipline  and  'polity  lias  been  magnified  extrava- 
gantly, and  made  essential  to  the  being  of  a  Church; 
an  apostolical  succession  has  been  feigned  in  a  sense 
in  ichich  it  never  existed;  the  all-sufRciency  of 


164  CONDITION   AND   PROSPECTS    &C, 

Christ  for  our  salvation  has  been  sapped  by  over- 
statements about  the  sacraments,  ceremonies, 
fastings,  genuflexions,  garments,  and  subdivisions 
of  sacred  edifices,  (fcc.  The  entire  ground  on 
which  we  stand  is  shifted.  The  Church  is  shifted 
from  the  body  of  Christ,  united  to  him  by  faith,  to 
an  external  union  founded  on  the  figment  of  apos- 
tolical sucession.  Justification  is  shifted  from 
Christ's  only  mer  ts,  (fee.  Sanctification  is  shifted 
from  Christ's  raisins^  us  by  his  Spirit  from  the 
death  of  sin,  &c.  All  is  desolation,  destruction, 
pride,  idolatry,  superstition,  a  spirit  of  bondage. 
We  no  lonofer  "hold  the  head, "and  beino-  cut 
ofi",  and  severed  from  that,  our  salvation  is  impos- 
sible."— Lect.  on  Coloss.  pp.  139,  390. 

Were  we  writing  in  almost  any  other  country, 
we  might  here  stop,  because  there  would,  perhaps, 
be  nothing  else  left  that  we  could  do.  But  such 
is  the  organization  of  our  Church  in  this  free, 
happy  Republic,  that  there  are  still  other  ways 
left  us  of  "contending  for  the  faith  ;"  still  other 
duties  to  which  we  are  called.  Providence  has 
given  to  all  orders  among  us.  Clerical  and  Lay,  a 
part  to  perform  in  the  councils  of  the  Church.  She 
is  therefore  just  what  we  choose  to  make  her ;  and 
for  this  we  must  all,  in  our  several  stations,  be  held 
to  a  solemn  responsibility.    What  then  can  we 


DISCUSS    ERRORS   IN   CONVENTION.  165 

here  do,  which  it  may  seem  wise  for  us  to  do,  to 
benefit  the  Church,  and  prepare  for  our  reckoning 
in  the  great  day  ?  Ought  we  not,  strenuously  and 
persevering! y,  to  endeavor  to  bring  up  Puseyism 
and  every  other  Romish  error  with  which  we  are 
troubled,  before  our  public  bodies,  that  tJicy  may  ex- 
amine and  condemn  them  ?  We  know  indeed  it 
was  declared  by  the  last  General  Convention  that 
it  had  nothing:  to  do  with  these  matters.  But  we 
know  also  that  multitudes^  all  over  our  Church, 
received  this  declaration  with  equal  astonishment 
and  grief  They  could  scarcely  believe  it  pos- 
sible that  such  an  utterance  had  proceeded  from 
such  a  body.  Why,  if  the  General  Convention  of 
our  Church, — her^  highest  tribunal,  her  ultimate 
authority,  her  sovereign  head  on  earth,  has  noth- 
ing to  do  with  a  matter  which  is  rending  her 
unity,  destroying  her  peace;  and  exposing  her 
alike  to  pity  and  scorn, — whither  shall  we  go  for 
redress?     We  must  perish  in  our  corruption. 

But  the  case  is  not  hopeless.  '•  Great  men  are 
not  always  wise,  " — this  was  not  left  for  us  unin- 
spired moderns  to  discover.  Even  a  General 
Convention  may  err.  That  body  must  yet  look 
this  matter  fully  in  the  face.  Neither  the  cunning 
policy  of  the  great  adversary,  nor  an  unchristian 
timidity,  can  always  keep  our  troubles  out  of  it. 


166  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS  &C. 

The  voice  of  the  Church,  as  well  as  the  injunc- 
tions of  her  Divine  Head,  calls  aloud  upon  the 
future  members  of  the  General  Convention,  who- 
ever these  may  be^  to  be  faithful  to  their  hi^h 
trust ;  not  to  shrink  back  from  any  duty,  however 
painful ;  but  to  "quit  themselves  like  men, and  be 
strong. "  And  wo  to  those  who  neglect  such  a 
charge  ! 

Again  :  why  have  not  all  the  agents^  principal 
and  subordinate^  in  our  late  Popish  ordinations, 
been  called  to  account  for  these  monstrous  out^ 
raofes  aorainst  our  Protestant  Church  ?  Let  no 
one  say  hereafter,  as  has  been  said, — "  Why  bring 
up  these  troubles  before  our  tribunals  and  public 
assemblies?  Nothing  can  there  be  done  against 
them.  "  How  can  we  be  certain  of  this  until  the 
experiment  be  thoroughly  tried?  And  even  should 
every  court,  every  council,  every  functionary 
prove  faithless  to  their  trust, — which  is  not  at  all 
likely, — still  such  attempts  cannot  be  in  vain. 
They  will  sound  abroad  as  so  many  solemn  pro- 
tests against  evil,  aud  they  will  be  heard,  and  ul- 
timately prevail.  In  the  meanwhile  they  who 
make  them  will  have  discharged  their  duty,  and 
may  look  forward  to  the  reward  of  faithful 
servants.  But  what  will  become  of  those  who  do 
nothing  ? — the  lovers  of  ease,  the  faint  hearted,  the 


BRING   PUSEYITES    TO   TRIAL.  167 

selfish,  the  aspiring?  What  will  their  crafty  de- 
vices of  expediency,  their  hollow  compromises,  in 
which  they  now  wrap  themselves  so  securely, — 
what  will  these  avail  them  in  tlie  great  day  ? 
Have  they  not  reason  to  fear  the  awful  doom  of 
traitors  asfainst  Christ  and  his  Church  ? 

Ought  there  not  to  be  a  general  correspondence 
amonor  the  friends  of  our  Protestant  faith  throusfh- 
out  our  Church,  in  order  to  united  and  correct 
action?  Many  now  are  feeble  and  dispirited  just 
because  they  feel  alone.  Like  the  prophet  of  old 
in  apostate  Israel,  they  are  ready  to  exclaim — 
"  They  have  forsaken  thy  covenant, — and  I,  even 
I  only  am  left;  and  they  seek  my  life  to  take  it 
away!"  They  have  none  to  look  to  for  counsel 
and  encouraorement.  But  in  union  there  is 
streno^th ;  and  we  doubt  not  there  are  left  even 
now  more  than  "seven  thousand — all  the  knees 
which  have  not  bowed  unto  Baal."  Let  then  the 
friends  of  evangelical  truth,  all  over  the  Church, 
open  a  correspondence  with  each  other,  and  com- 
pare views  and  get  ready  for  combined  action. 

And  especially  ought  there  not  to  be  just  be- 
fore the  next  General  Convention,  a  meeting  of 
those  inembers  of  that  body  ivho  grieve  over  our 
present  troubles^  that  they  may  go  into  it  prepared 
to  act  together  wisely  and  efficiently? — and  not, 


168  CONDITION   AND   PROSPECTS    &C. 

as  it  too  often  has  been  in  times  past,  suifer  them- 
selves to  be  defeated  by  a  crafty  minority,  through 
their  own  want  of  mutual  understanding  and  set- 
tled views  in  respect  to  the  course  which  ought 
to  be  pursued.  Such  a  meeting  might  also  draw 
up  and  put  forth  a  thoroughly  digested  testimony 
to  the  great  truths  of  the  Gospel  now  so  obscured 
and  endangered  in  many  parts  of  our  Zion;  and 
a  clear,  solemn  protest  against  those  popish  er- 
rors which  are  daily  spreading  their  poisonous 
influence  all  about  us,  and  destroying  immortal 
souls.  Such  a  testimony  and  protest,  calm,  faith- 
ful, moderate  in  tone,  could  not  but  awaken  gen- 
eral attention,  and  do  much,  with  heaven's  bless- 
ing, to  arrest  our  downward  course.  Another 
great  duty  devolves  upon  the  friends  of  evangel- 
ical truth.  Ought  they  not,  with  much  and 
careful  consultation,  to  prepare  and  publish  a 
revised  Book  of  Common  Prayer?  This  idea 
was  first  suggested  to  us  in  a  private  letter  from 
a  distinguished  Lay-member  of  our  Church  in 
one  of  the  New  England  States ;  and  it  is  cer- 
tainly worthy  of  serious  thought.  There  are  too 
many,  at  least  apparent,  grounds  for  Popish  error- 
ists  to  stand  upon  in  some  parts  of  the  Prayer- 
book.  It  is  vain  to  deny  this.  Puseyites  confi- 
dently appeal  to  these  grounds,  and  the  friends  of 


EMINENT    riETY   NECESSARY.  169 

evangelical  truth  cannot  here  make  a  perfectly 
triumphant  defence.  Honesty  is  always  the  best 
policy.  It  is  ever  wise  and  right  to  acknowledge 
our  errors  and  reform  them.  Rome's  Bohan  Upas 
has  been  permitted  in  times  past  to  spread  its 
poisonous  shade  over  us,  and  what  hope  can  we 
have  of  escaping  its  deadly  influence  so  long  as 
we  cherish  its  roots  in  our  very  soil?  If  we  lop 
off  its  branches  this  year,  they  will  shoot  out 
again  the  next.  We  must  go  down  to  the  bot- 
tom of  our  evils,  and  make  thorough  reformation 
work.  Certainly  this  requires  much  wisdom, 
courage,  and  piety;  but  God  will  not  withhold 
these  if  we  seek  Him  arightly;  and  if  we  do  not, 
Rome  must  at  last  get  entire  dominion  over  us, 
and  we,  as  a  Church  of  Christ,  be  deservedly 
blotted  out. 

But  amid  all  our  efforts  against  error,  and  to 
advance  the  Gospel  in  our  Church,  there  is  one 
object  never  to  be  lost  sight  of,  because  if  we  fail 
in  this,  we  can  do  little  good  to  the  holy  cause 
in  which  we  are  engaged,  and  may  miserably 
perish  ourselves.  We  mean  an  eminent  personal 
piety :  this  we  ought  ever  to  keep  in  view,  but  es- 
pecially at  the  present  time.  Controversy,  though 
a  most  important  Christian  duty,  is  always  beset 
with  great  incidental  dangers.  It  is  very  apt  to 
15 


170  CONDITION  AND  PROSPECTS  &C. 

injure  the  spirit,  fill  the  bosom  with  hurtful  pre- 
judices, and  draw  off  the  affections  from  things 
heavenly  and  divine.  It  becomes  us,  therefore, 
to  make  personal  religion  in  this  our  hour  of  trial, 
a  matter  of  peculiar  concern.  Let  us  be  much  in 
prayer ;  let  us  cultivate  a  me^k,  humble,  and  lov- 
ing temper — such  a  temper  as  will  supply  us  with 
soft  words  for  our  hardest  arguments,  and  lead 
us  to  treat  our  opponents  with  all  due  kindness 
and  respect,  while  we  faithfully  expose  their  errors 
and  resist  their  pernicious  influence.  With  such 
a  spirit,  we  shall  have  peace  within  while  war  is 
raging  without,  and  we,  ourselves  are  manfully 
performing  our  part  in  it  as  "good  soldiers  of 
Jesus  Christ."  And  whatever  else  may  be  our 
success,  we  shall  certainly  achieve  the  greatest 
of  all  victories — a  victory  over  ourselves.  But 
such  a  spirit,  with  the  holy  walk  and  character 
which  will  be  sure  to  accompany  it,  will  likewise 
add  power  to  all  our  other  weapons,  and  give  us 
such  wisdom  and  efficiency  in  the  use  of  them, 
as  nothing  else  can  supply,  hence  it  will  do 
more  to  convince  and  to  convert  those  ^'  who  are 
of  the  contrary  part,"  than  all  other  means  we 
can  employ.  Even  could  we  succeed  without 
such  a  spirit,  success  would  be  any  thing  but  a 
blessing  to  us. 


A    REVIVAL    NEEDED.  171 

Who  does  not  see  that  in  the  faithfnl  use  of  the 
means  above  briefly  pointed  out,  viz  :  preaching 
the  Gospel,  prayer,  the  press,  mutual  correspond- 
ence and  consultation,  a  solemn  testimony  and 
protest,  a  kind  and  respectful,  but  decided  and 
firm  stand  for  the  truth  in  all  our  Church  coun- 
cils, a  manifest  growing  personal  piety — who  sees 
not  that  in  the  faithful  use  of  these  means  we  may 
expect,  under  God's  blessing,  a  revival  of  religion 
among  us — a  revival  of"  pure  religion  and  unde- 
filed?"  And  is  not  this  pre-eminently  our  present 
want  ?  The  Church  of  Christ  has  always  been 
beset  by  two  great  evils — on  the  one  hand  ration- 
alism, on  the  other  superstition — in  other  words 
Socinianism  and  Popery.  With  the  first,  we  have 
been  little  troubled  ;  our  besetting  sin  has  ever 
been  the  last.  No  one  who  carefully  studies  the 
history  of  our  Church,  can  be  ignorant  of  this  fact, 
or  the  causes  of  it.  Now,  while  we  by  no  means 
undervalue  sound  argument  and  earnest  effort 
against  errors  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left,  yet 
nothing  will  so  eff"ectually  drive  these  off"  and  de- 
liver the  Church  from  their  influence,  as  a  revival 
of  religion.  They  will  flee  before  it  as  venomous 
serpents  before  a  fire  in  the  prairies.  They  can 
indeed  stand  any  thing  but  a  revival.  Such  a 
heaven-enkindled  flame  will  either  cleanse  or  con- 


172  CONDITION   AND   PROSPECTS   &C. 

sume  the  whole  host  of  errorists.  Hence  every 
great  reformation  in  the  Church  has  always  been 
accompanied  by  a  revival  of  religion — it  was  in- 
deed the  revival  that  constituted  its  power. 
When  the  Spirit  of  God  moves  upon  the  hearts 
of  a  people,  and  makes  them  to  see  their  guilt, 
their  helplessness,  and  their  wretchedness,  and 
discloses  to  them  a  holy,  sin-hating  God,  and  the 
•terrors  of  a  coming  judgment — the  poor  hollow 
figments  of  Popery  sink  into  nothing  before  these 
awful  realities.  Miserable  comforters  are  they  all 
felt  to  be  at  such  a  time,  and  the  awakened  sinner 
turns  from  them  and  finds  peace  and  satisfaction 
only  in  "  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God.  ^'  A  re- 
vival of  religion — one  general  out-pouring  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  would  be  the  salvation  of  our  Church 
at  this  moment.  For  this,  let  us  one  and  all,  live, 
and  labor,  and  pray.  "  O  Lord,  revive  thy  work 
in  the  midst  of  the  years,  in  the  midst  of  the  years 
make  known,  in  wrath  remember  mercy  !" 

But,  "  suppose,  "  some  will  say,  "  that  every 
effort  should  fail,  that  notwithstanding  all  we  may 
do  to  promote  "  pure  religion  and  undefiled,"  and 
throw  back  the  tide  of  Popery,  things  go  on  from 
bad  to  worse,  and  the  dark  polluting  stream 
continues  to  roll  its  desolating:  waves  over  us — 
what  then  shall  be  doneV      There  is  but  one 


DIVISIO:>J    JIAY   BE    NECESSARY.  173 

course  left  —  it  is  to  divide.  If  you  cannot 
reclaim  unsound  men,  if  you  canilot  put  off  their 
errors  and  corrupt  practices,  you  must  separate. 
There  is  no  other  alternative.  And  to  continue 
in  alliance  with  them,  is  to  become  partakers  of 
their  sin.  Such  a  union  is  not  Christian  union  ; 
it  is  an  unholy  compromise  of  Anti-christ.  A 
Church  thus  made  up  is  not  one,  livinoTj  sanctified, 
and  sanctifying  whole  ;  but  a  dead,  heterogeneous, 
corrupt,  and  corrupting  mass. 

But  have  we  not  too  much  lost  sight  of  what 
is  true  Christian  union  1  Have  we  not  confound- 
ed a  lifeless,  stagnant  uniformity',  the  effect  of 
worldly  wisdom  and  external  pressure,  with  that 
vital  union  which  can  result  only  from  a  cordial 
reception  of  the  truth?  Yes,  it  is  to  a  Popish  idol 
falsely  called  unity ^  we  have,  too  many  of  us  and 
too  long  bowed  down  ;  and  thus  lost  sight  of  the 
all-important  fact  that  Christian  union,  so  far 
from  being  preserved,  is  necessarily  lost,  when 
attempted  to  be  gained  or  maintained  at  the  sac- 
rifice of  truth.  There  and  there  only  is  Christian 
union,  wliere  tlie  truth  is  held  in  simplicity  and 
godly  sincerity,  and  meekly  but  firirdy  held  up  he- 
fore  the  world,  all  else  is  but  "  a  covenant  with 
death,  an  agreement  with  hell."     Very  many  of 

us,  there  is   reason   to  hope,  are  beginning  to 

15« 


174  CONDITION   AND    PROSPECTS    &C. 

waken  up  to  right  views  of  this  subject.  Hence 
division  is  now  quite  frequently  spoken  of, — and 
at  timeS;  even  in  our  high  places, — as  that  pain- 
ful, solemn  alternative  to  which  both  duty  and 
safety  will  in  all  human  probability,  soon  shut  us 
up.  Should  the  day  come,  as  come  we  fear  it 
will,  let  us  "quit  ourselves  like  men;  and  be 
strong." 

"But  what,''^  it  has  been  asked,  ^^ivill  he  the 
prospect  before  us  in  case  of  division  ?"  We  can 
judge  of  the  future  only  by  the  past.  The  great 
principles  of  human  nature,  and  of  the  govern- 
ment of  Providence  already  developed  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Church,  will  still  continue  to  operate. 
A  consideration  of  these  is  the  only  clue  by  which 
we  can  guide  our  way  into  the  labyrinth  of  the 
future.  Judging  thus — we  believe  that  in  case 
of  a  division  among  us,  the  leaders  of  the  Pusey- 
ite  body,  then  unrestrained,  will  speedily  travel 
forward  to  Rome,  their  longed  for  goal ;  but  the 
rank  and  file  who,  whether  in  Church  or  State, 
are  almost  always  honest,  will  soon  discover 
how  shamefully  they  have  been  deceived,  and 
will  fall  back  again  upon  the  truly  Protestant 
part  of  the  Church ;  while  that  freed  from  the 
dead  load  of  Popery  which  now  enfeebles  and 
embarrasses  it,  and  having  with  it  the  cordial 


OUR    TROUBLES    LONG    FORESEEN.  175 

sympathies  of  the  whole  Protestant  world,  and, 
we  doubt  not,  the  blessing  of  heaven,  will  at 
once  press  forward  in  the  Christian  course  with 
renewed  vigor,  and  grow  and  prosper  beyond  all 
past  example.  How  glorious  a  body  would  be 
such  a  Reformed  Church  !  Few  denominations, 
as  the  world  now  is,  could  do  more  to  advance 
the  kinordom  of  Christ  on  earth.  It  would  "arise 
and  shine"  amonof  the  brio^htest  constellations  of 
those  '•  new  heavens,"  in  comparison  with  which 
*'  the  former  shall  not  be  remembered,  nor  come 
into  mind." 

The  writer  is  done, — not  because  the  subject 
is  exhausted.  Far  from  this.  In  each  essay  his 
greatest  difficulty  was  to  be  brief  Facts  con- 
tinually crowded  upon  him,  but  of  these  he  could 
select  only  those  most  fitted,  as  he  believed,  to  do 
good,  and  least  likely  to  give  offence.  Many 
ei^Us  he  has  been  compelled  to  pass  over  entirely; 
and  of  those  noticed,  he  is  deeply  sensible  that 
they  have  been  feebly,  very  feebly  presented. 
He  could  only  touch  the  surface,  and  not  go 
down  into  the  heart's  core  of  the  corruption,  or 
follow  its  deadly  streams  throughout  their  wide 
circulation. 

More  than  twenty  years  have  now  elapsed  since 
the  writer  first  endeavored  to  expose  these  deplo- 


176  CONDITION    AND   PROSPECTS    &C. 

rable  evils.  But  his  voice  was  then  too  feeble, 
or  the  Church's  slumbers  too  deep.  Few  heeded 
the  warning.  And  our  troubles,  at  that  time, 
chiefly  prospective,  have  since  been  fearfully  real- 
ized, and  in  some  parts  of  our  Zion  the  tide  has 
already  spread  so  far,  and  risen  so  high,  that  only 
here  and  there  a  great  Protestant  land-markj  or 
'a  faithful  traveller,  is  visible  above  its  desolating 
flood. 

It  was  only  after  repeated  and  urgent  importu- 
nities, public  and  private,  the  writer  again  took 
up  his  pen.  In  what  he  has  now  done  he  is  pain- 
fully conscious  of  having  fallen  below  his  own 
wishes,  and  very  far  short  of  what  the  present 
awful  crisis  demands.  But  amid  no  ordinary 
trials,  discouragements,  and  domestic  afflictions, 
he  has  persevered  in  doing  the  little  he  could. 
May  it  not  be  said  of  him  again^  some  twenty 
years  hence,  by  any  of  Zion's  faithful  friends,  then 
weeping  over  her  ruins — Alas  !  Alas  !  "  the 
writer  showed  himself  no  loose  reasoner.  no  vain 
alarmist !" 


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